


As Wild As We Were Green

by Talia2711



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mpreg, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-20 07:26:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14255925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talia2711/pseuds/Talia2711
Summary: Jamie’s pretty much a saint and maybe Tyler’s a little bit in love with him by this point. Mostly though he just tries not to think about that. If nothing’s happened between them by now, it’s not going to. Not even when Tyler really fucks up. Especially not then.Tyler's in so much trouble





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you've been wondering why I was so slow updating my WIPs, this is the reason. The idea sunk its teeth in and wouldn't let go. I only have another two chapters to write, so there should be no long delays on publishing. 
> 
> Possible warning for dub-con while drinking before the story starts.

Tyler makes bad decisions all the time, and honestly Jamie should know better than to listen to him at this point. In Tyler’s defense, though, when he’d said, “Let’s go out for a few beers,” he’d literally meant _a few beers_. It’s not his fault they ended up at a frat party drinking their weight in jungle juice. 

But fine, maybe since it was Tyler’s idea, the consequences are on his head. Jamie certainly seems to think so, if his death glare is any indication.

“Fuck you, Segs,” he says, and his voice sounds like he’s been chewing rocks.

The room starts to spin and Tyler closes his eyes again. Maybe if he tries really hard, he can just go back to sleep until the sick feeling in his stomach goes away. 

He’s wearing pajama pants, at least – he can tell by the way the material rubs against his legs as he tries to curl up into a ball. The inside of his mouth doesn’t taste like death, either, so he must have brushed his teeth before passing out. Jamie probably had a hand in that.

Too bad none of it’s making a difference this morning. 

Tyler’s stomach clenches and his mouth starts to water an unnecessary amount. Oh yeah, he’s definitely going to puke. 

“Oh god,” Jamie says in a choked voice, and the bed jostles as he rolls out of it.

A second later, there’s retching from the bathroom. Tyler scrunches his eyes shut harder and tries to breath through his nose. There’s only one bathroom in this apartment. If Jamie’s already in there, it means Tyler’s going to have to wait. But he can do that. He can totally wait. 

From down the hall, there’s the terrible sound of one liquid hitting another at high velocity. Tyler’s stomach rolls. He tries to think calming thoughts. He tries to remember what he did last night. They were at that party and there were red solo cups of something orange that he’d had to force down at first but which went down easier with each progressive cup. He’d meant to stop drinking after two but… every time he looked down the cup was full again.

Goddamn frat boys. It was a wolf frat, too, and they always think they can handle more than they can. Oh, let’s outdrink the humans, they say, that’ll be a good time. Tyler should have learned his lesson by now: you cannot outdrink the humans. If there’s one thing humans are constitutionally made for, it’s drinking.

Down the hall, Jamie throws up again. Tyler feels the acid creep into the back of his throat. If he moves, he is going to puke. If he stays still, he’s going to puke. There is no winning.

“Fuck it,” he says, and the words scrape across his throat. He pushes himself up and sprints for the bathroom. Jamie’s just going to have to share or else Tyler’s going to lean over the tub.

/////

Six hours later, Tyler wakes up again, cold and alone. He’d fallen asleep with Jamie’s hand on the back of his neck, Tyler’s head tucked up under Jamie’s chin. They don’t usually cuddle up like that to sleep, but Tyler’s stupid omega brain sends out good feelings when an alpha touches him there, and he was feeling pretty desperate for any type of relief from the hangover. It hadn’t been too much of a hardship to nuzzle up underneath Jamie’s chin and make pathetic puppy noises until Jamie started rubbing his neck.

There’s laughter coming from the living room, so Tyler forces himself upright and stumbles out there to investigate. Jamie’s on the couch, curled up miserably at one end in an old hoodie. Jordie is in the armchair, laughing while Jamie tries to explain what happened last night.

“Hey Segs,” Jordie says. “Heard you drank everything _and_ the kitchen sink last night.”

Tyler doesn’t bother answering. He goes to the couch and shoves at Jamie until Jamie rearranges himself so Tyler can collapse mostly on his lap.

“Oh,” Jordie says, and when Tyler looks over at him, his eyebrows are raised. “It’s like that, huh?”

Tyler groans and lets his head thunk against Jamie’s shoulder.

“Fuck off, Jordie,” he says, but his heart isn’t in it.

Jordie shrugs, unconcerned, and his eyebrows go back to normal.

“I warned you,” he says. “All the worst parties happen at midterms. No one’s ever expecting it to turn into a rager and next thing you know you’re in the ER with a broken arm, or the campus police are busting in and breaking things up. You’re lucky you didn’t end up with another underage, Ty.”

Tyler’s shoulders hunch without his permission. He doesn’t want to think about that possibility, about what it would do to his mother.

“It’s fine,” Jamie says, speaking at last. His hand comes up to run down Tyler’s spine in a soothing motion. “You’ll be legal in a few months anyway. We won’t go out again before that.”

Tyler doesn’t want to think about drinking again, not when he still feels so queasy. And anyway….

“I’m legal in Canada,” he mutters.

Jordie snorts. “Sure, and if we were in Canada, that would actually matter.”

“Fuck off, Jordie,” Tyler says again.

Jordie shrugs. “Only for you, Segs.”

He gets up and stretches. “Think I’ll catch a nap,” he says. “Some of us didn’t get to lay around all day.”

Jordie has a real adult job now and he never lets them forget it. He’s doing work he enjoys so it’s not bad, but it means he can’t hang out as much as he did last year when he was still in school. They still have evenings and weekends, but there are no midmorning puppy piles or 2 am pizza runs. It had been so weird at first, but by now they’re all used to it.

“When did Jordie get all grown up?” he asks, idly rubbing his cheek against Jamie’s shirt.

Jamie shrugs. “I guess he hit his stride.”

Well, at least no one is asking Tyler to be an adult just yet. He’s not sure he’s ready for all that.

He yawns and thinks about going back to bed. His stomach is still clenching uncomfortably and his whole body hurts. He feels like ten wolves tackled him at once. What the fuck did he get up to last night?

“Hey Jamie?”

“Yeah, Ty?”

“Let’s never drink again.”

“Agreed.”

/////

They don’t go out for a while after that, which is fine. That night after midterms was more of a fluke than anything else. Tyler remembers all too well the way his mother looked at him after his first train wreck semester in college before he’d transferred. He never wants her to look at him like that again, which is why he just stays in and fucks around on Xbox with Jamie most nights. Midterms was a good time (apparently – he still doesn’t remember enough to confirm it), but that one taste of party life will last him a good long while.

After midterms, the semester always seems to go quickly. They have half a week off for fake Thanksgiving, which isn’t enough time for Jamie to head back to BC. In years past, Jamie and Jordie would make the drive home with Tyler, but Jordie has less time off this year and it’s not like they can leave him on his own, even if it’s not a real holiday.

Close after Thanksgiving break is the lead up to finals, and before Tyler knows it the semester is over. He gets home from his last final to find Jamie on the couch, tablet in hand.

“Hi,” he says when he sees Tyler. “How’d it go?”

Tyler shrugs. “I’m not worried,” he says, and it’s mostly not a lie. One of the good things about living with Jamie is he’s a goddamn hard worker and makes Tyler want to be the same. They’ve been studying for finals practically since T-giving break.

“Nice,” Jamie says, and holds out an arm so Tyler can cuddle up to his side. They’ve been inexplicably handsy since midterms, but Tyler can’t find it in himself to mind.

“How’d yours go?” Tyler asks.

Jamie shrugs. “Fine, I guess. Glad they’re over.”

“Sames,” Tyler says immediately. “Oh hey, I was gonna ask: are you going home at all or just staying here with Jordie?”

“Home for two weeks,” Jamie tells him. “Then I’ll be back here. Can’t leave Jordie alone too long or who knows what mess we’ll come back to.”

“Can’t trust him,” Tyler agrees. “Definitely needs adult supervision.”

“Right,” Jamie says. “But where can we find one of those?”

Good question, Tyler thinks. When Jordie is the most adulting adult they have, there’s something very terrifying about the world.

/////

Tyler times his drive home for two days after his finals. He’s not sure he’s going to stay the whole break, but he needs to at least go home for a while. His mom doesn’t worry near as much now as she did his first year away at school, but he still wants to check in. Anyway, it’ll be nice to see his sisters. They text and stuff, but it’s not the same as when they all lived together. They’re not really pack anymore, not now that Tyler is so integrated into Jamie’s little pack, but it bums him out to think about so he mostly just doesn’t.

Anyway, he’s got another reason for heading home. Fact is, he’s got a heat coming up and he doesn’t like doing that with Jamie and Jordie around if he can help it. Not that he doesn’t trust them, but why tempt fate by leaking his hormones all over two unmated alphas? Sometimes he doesn’t have a choice for his spring heat, but the summer and winter ones almost always work out perfectly timed with breaks from school.

Tyler’s cycle has been super fucking regular for about three years now. When he first started going through it at sixteen, the heats were all over the place, but by now he can predict it almost down to the day. It’s really fucking convenient for prepping. He can, for example, comfortably spend two days with his family then buy himself some protein shakes and Gatorade and lock himself in his room with an air purifier and a knotting dildo. 

Except, uh, heat doesn’t really happen this time. He usually wakes up first thing in the morning of his targeted day with a little bit of slick already leaking through his boxers. But this time… nothing. He’s clearheaded and confused about it.

It’s weird. Not worrying or anything, just weird. But hey, maybe Tyler’s heat tracker app got messed up. Maybe he somehow put the dates of his last heat in wrong. Hell, maybe it’s just stress messing with his cycle. 

His mom gives him a weird look when he comes into the kitchen for breakfast, but Tyler just shrugs her off. Probably his heat will happen tomorrow or the next day. Tyler’s not worried.

/////

Except, okay, his heat actually _doesn’t_ happen the next day or the day after that, and he does start to worry after a while. He tries to distract himself – playing video games, texting Jamie, skating with his sisters – but whenever he has more than a minute of downtime, his mind always comes back to the problem at hand.

Finally, he breaks down and googles “reasons not to go into heat”. There aren’t as many hits as there would be for a human medical question (there aren’t as many wolves as there are humans, so it makes sense), but the first link looks decent. It’s titled “11 Reasons You Might Miss Your Heat” and most of them are not things Tyler wants to think about: illness, hormonal imbalance, thyroid disorder. And there, at the very top of the list, is the one he’s been avoiding the most. 

Pregnancy.

Jesus Christ. 

Tyler clicks out of the site and pockets his phone. That’s ridiculous. Honestly, how the fuck could he be pregnant? He hasn’t had sex in months and he hasn’t had _unprotected _sex in years – not since he was a stupid freshman.__

__He buys a test anyway, just to prove how dumb the whole thing is. The lady at the checkout counter gives him a judging look. They live in a predominantly wolf neighborhood, so probably she’s judging him less for being a stereotypical Hollywood-esque slutty omega and more for the fact that he doesn't smell mated or have the bite on his neck. He probably should have worn one of the hoodies he stole from Jamie (cover the neck and the scent all at once), but he hadn’t thought that far ahead._ _

__He pays for his test and goes home, but he can’t make himself actually take it. There’s no rush, he tells himself. It’s not like he’s really actually pregnant. That would be crazy. Whatever’s wrong with him, it’s definitely not that. He puts the test in his travel bag and decides to just deal with it later._ _

____

/////

Tyler heads back to school a few days later, just after the holiday. Jamie’s already back, and the more Tyler thinks about it, the more Tyler wants to see him again. He hugs his dad and his sisters before he leaves, and his mom walks him out to his car.

Tyler braces himself for some sort of confrontation about the Heat That Didn’t Happen, but she says instead, “Are you seeing someone?”

Tyler blinks. “Uh, no?”

His mother closes her eyes, mouth a tight line. When she opens her eyes again, they look sad. 

“Have you been drinking, Ty?”

Tyler’s stomach clenches with anger and phantom guilt.

“No,” he says, and crosses his arms. She brings it up every fucking time he screws something up. Well he hasn’t done anything to deserve it this time. He wishes she would just back off. 

He wishes Jamie were here. Jamie always believes Tyler, even when Tyler's in the wrong. 

His mother sighs and pulls him into a hug. Tyler lets it happen. The touch feels good, even if it’s just his stupid wolf brain picking up things that aren’t there.

“If you’re in trouble, please tell me,” she whispers in her ear. “You’re my baby, Tyler, even if you have your own pack now.”

“Mom,” he says, and his voice breaks for reasons he doesn’t understand. “I’m fine.”

She squeezes him and then steps back.

“Okay,” she says. “You’re old enough to make your own choices, to make your own life. But if you ever need anything, just call me.”

She hugs hims again and then sends him on his way. He spends the entire drive replaying the conversation in his head and thinking _what the fuck?_


	2. Chapter 2

Tyler’s first semester freshman year was a good time in all the ways that don’t count and a shit show in all the ways that do. He’d chosen UMass mostly on a whim and hadn’t known anyone else going there. He didn’t have any friends the first few weeks (partly because most of the people around him were human and he just wasn’t used to that), but he got invited to a party eventually and it turned out he was the funniest guy on campus while drunk. 

The downward spiral of partying all night and skipping class was practically inevitable from there.

It’s not like he didn’t know it was a problem, his new social life. But… it felt really fucking good to be part of a group again, even if that group was full of people also in the process of failing out of school. So he’d kept up with all the best parties and tried not to pay attention to the professors’ faces when they passed back all the tests he’d failed.

He got the official notice about academic probation right after midterms, and his mom flipped shit when she found out. Which, okay, looking back that’s a pretty fair reaction (especially considering the charge for underage drinking he’d been hiding from her), but it didn’t feel like it at the time, especially not when she started talking about making him move back home and go to AA meetings. 

They’d compromised in the end. Tyler applied to a uni much closer to home – one with a big wolf population. It wasn’t easy to get into a new school with the GPA he’d tanked, but he had a trump card by being a lone wolf looking for a pack. There must have been wolves on the admissions committee that day.

There were conditions to Tyler’s admission, though. He had to maintain a 2.5 GPA and he had to join their mentoring program. Tyler didn’t know how he was going to make that first one happen, but he didn’t want to think about his mother’s reaction if he failed out of another school, so he signed on and hoped for the best.

The mentoring program seemed pretty lame at first glance. They assigned him a dorky-looking guy with a bad haircut and an ugly polo shirt, but he smelled nice and his voice was soft in a way that made Tyler’s stomach flutter.

His name was Jamie, and he turned out to be the world’s sweetest alpha. He took Tyler to lunch and then offered to show him around campus. Tyler probably would have agreed to anything to keep spending time with Jamie by that point, but the tour was actually really helpful – especially the part where Jamie showed him the local wolf hangouts.

“My brother and I go running out by the ravine most weekends,” he said. “You, uh, could come with if you wanted.”

And obviously Tyler wasn’t going to turn that down, even without the incentive of Jamie’s company. After half a year in Boston, having somewhere to run was going to be awesome. 

After that they were fast friends. Nothing bonds wolves quite like running under the moon together, and anyway, Jamie was just an all around sweetheart. He only had to meet with Tyler once a week for the mentoring program, but even in those first few weeks they saw each other more than that. By midterms, he was visiting Tyler’s dorm or inviting him out for coffee or over to his apartment more nights than he wasn’t. He helped Tyler make a study plan and stick to it, and when Tyler wanted to cut lose, Jamie’s brother bought them beer and they played video games all night or else Jamie went with Tyler to a party and stopped him from doing anything too dumb.

Tyler’s not sure what Jamie got out of all that, but something kept him around. Maybe he just liked having an omega to complete his pack or maybe it was something else. Either way, Tyler was happy and Jamie seemed happy, too. Hell, even Tyler’s mom was happy.

And then, somewhere along the way, Tyler started noticing how tall and broad-shouldered Jamie was, how pretty his eyes were, how nice he smelled. He was still a dork, but he was also somehow inexplicably hot, especially once he cut his hair into something approaching sexy. Pretty soon all of Tyler’s masturbation fantasies revolved around Jamie pinning him down and fucking him senseless. Tyler even went and bought a bigger knotting dildo to match what he knew Jamie had to be packing.

It wasn’t just sexual, obviously. Jamie’s pretty much a saint and maybe Tyler’s a little bit in love with him by this point. Mostly though he tries not to think about that. If nothing’s happened between them by now, it’s not going to. Not point in even wishing for it, really.

But it’s fine. They’re best friends and that’s fine. No, really.

/////

Tyler gets back to the apartment around dinner time. Jamie’s in the kitchen and from the smell of garlic and sauce in the air, he’s making homemade pizza.

Goddamn Tyler loves that man. 

Jamie’s weird about food sometimes (you’d have to be dumber than Tyler not to notice), but he always folds like a cheap suit when Tyler has a craving. If Tyler wants a milkshake or a burger or motherfucking pizza, that’s what Jamie will get him and to hell with his own diet. It’s a big responsibility, having that kind of power, because the last thing Tyler wants is to make Jamie miserable by forcing him to eat something he’s not comfortable with. He tries, for the most part, to keeps his cravings on the down low, but sometimes Jamie just knows him too well. 

Jamie’s scrubbing a red stain off the counter when Tyler comes in. Without looking up, he says,“You smell good.”

“That’s my line,” Tyler tells him, sniffing my the air. He puts his travel bag down on the table. “And anyway, I think you mean _you_ smell good.”

Jamie glances at him and his eyes catch on the stolen hoodie Tyler’s wearing. His face flushes just just enough to be cute. Jamie likes to see Tyler wearing his clothes. He pretends to be annoyed, but Tyler knows the truth. It makes sense – Tyler is an omega in Jamie’s pack who isn’t his mate or his blood relative, so he doesn’t smell quite like pack should. It’s only natural that Jamie touches Tyler a lot and doesn’t put up a fight when Tyler steals his shirts. It’s all instinct to correct the scent. It definitely isn’t an emotional thing. 

“You, uh, cold?” Jamie asks. 

“It’s January,” Tyler says reasonably. “It’s fucking cold out.”

And that’s not a lie, but it doesn’t exactly answer the question of why Tyler put the hoodie on in the first place. Truth is, the drive from his parents’ place was kind of stressful and Jamie’s scent has a way of calming Tyler down. Maybe some of that’s down to pack instinct, but he’s not going to pretend it’s _he’s_ not emotionally attached.

But that would be embarrassing to admit, so he doesn’t say anything else and lets Jamie draw his own conclusions.

“I can turn up the heat,” Jamie offers.

Tyler laughs, because that sounds like a fucking line. 

“You better work on your dirty talk, bro.”

Jamie blinks and says in a flat voice, “Okay, I guess you can just freeze then.”

Tyler grins at him.

“You wouldn’t let me freeze. You’d warm me up first.”

He lets his head tip a little to the side to bear his throat and Jamie’s scent shifts to something heavier. Tyler lets himself feel smug about it. Jamie almost never asks for submission, but he likes to see Tyler offer it freely.

“Come here, Segs,” Jamie says, beckoning with one finger.

Tyler steps forward into Jamie’s arms. Jamie holds him still for a moment, then cups a hand around the back of Tyler’s neck. Tyler can feel Jamie’s chest rising and falling against his as he breathes. 

“I missed you,” Tyler says. He doesn’t mean for it to come out, but the way Jamie smells is going to his head. It always does when they’re this close. 

“Yeah,” Jamie says. “Me too. I’m… I’m glad you’re back.”

His fingers brush down the line of Tyler’s neck – the same place a mating bite would go – and for no particular reason Tyler suddenly thinks about the pregnancy test in his bag. He should… do something about that. He should tell Jamie. Jamie should probably know if his packmate is maybe-possibly-potentially in trouble.

He opens his mouth, but before he can even think about how to start, the oven timer goes off and Jamie pulls back. As soon as he steps away, Tyler really does start to feel cold.

“I think I actually will go turn up the heat,” he says. 

He drops his bag off in his room while he’s at it, and then circles back to the kitchen in time to see the pizza being cut. His stomach starts to growl and he checks the clock. Jordie should be home soon and then they can eat.

He doesn’t have long to wait; Jordie comes in as Tyler’s getting out plates.

He says, “Oh, pizza. Nice.”

Then he pauses, face tilted up and his head swivels to look at Tyler.

“You smell weird,” he says, voice accusing. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Tyler says at once, because he doesn’t like that look. And anyway, he doesn’t know that anything happened – not yet and not for sure.

Jordie scents the air again and looks like he’s going to argue. Then Jamie says, “Let’s eat,” and, “Jordie, go wash your hands – you’re gross.”

Jordie does, and when he comes back, he doesn’t mention the way Tyler smells again. He does keep shooting Tyler weirded out looks, though, and Tyler wishes – not for the first time – that he could scent himself.

The pizza is fantastic, of course. You’d have to try really hard to fuck up pizza, and Jamie’s made it enough times to have the sauce to cheese ratio down pat. Tyler moans his way through three huge slices (and okay, maybe Jordie is partly staring because of that, but he definitely knows by now how Tyler reacts to pizza).

Afterward, though, Tyler starts to feel not great. He washes the dishes with Jordie’s reluctant help, and he starts to get kind of a stomachache halfway through. Not enough to be worrying, but it does make him squirm and want to go lie down. As soon as the plates are all scrubbed clean, he goes into the living room and collapses on the couch. Jamie, who’s already on the couch, makes an indignant sound but let’s Tyler rest his head in his lap, and even obligingly runs fingers through his hair.

“You okay?” he asks softly.

“Yeah,” Tyler says. “Just… just feel weird.”

He lays there for about an half-hour before he starts to doze off and Jamie bullies him into going to bed early. He gags a little bit when he’s brushing his teeth, but he doesn’t puke, and he does feel a bit better once he’s in bed with the cover pulled up to his chin.

He’d blame the whole thing on a long day, but first thing the next morning the the same feeling hits him hard. He forces down some oatmeal thinking maybe that will help, and it honestly seems to - he’s feeling well enough by midmorning to hit the gym with Jamie.

He thinks after that he must be over it (some kind of weird bug?), but the feeling strikes again later in the day before they eat lunch. He chalks it up to hunger pains this time, but the feeling doesn’t really go away after he’s eaten.  
Jamie notices, obviously, but he doesn’t say anything and if he’s not worried about it, Tyler’s not going to worry either. He doesn’t know what’s going on with his body (no, really), but it’s nothing serious. Probably he’s just got a case of… uh something. 

Two days of intermittent stomach pains later, he makes himself google possible causes of nausea. The top options are: stress, motion sickness, concussion, alcohol abuse, and… morning sickness.

Well fuck.

But no, he’s not going to think about that last option. The pregnancy test is still in his bag and he’s going to leave it there… possibly forever. There’s no point in taking it anyway. Whatever is wrong with him, it’s definitely not that. 

Tyler is absolutely not pregnant.


	3. Chapter 3

Tyler manages to stick to the party line (not pregnant, not pregnant, definitely not pregnant) for the rest of break, mostly by looking sad and pathetic every time it seems like Jordie wants to ask him about how weird he’s acting. 

Classes start up again and as usual, Tyler was dumb enough to schedule himself an 8 am lecture. It especially sucks this semester because he seems to have developed a new reaction to coffee: even a single cup has started giving him acid reflux. Jamie makes sympathetic sounds about it and buys Tyler tea instead but it’s just not the same.

Tyler’s nose is apparently also on the fritz, because lecture halls are almost unbearable these days. He can suddenly smell the boy next to him sweating vodka, the girl two rows down chewing mint gum, the floor where someone spilled something tangy the day before. His nose is obviously more attuned to scent than a human’s would be, but he unless it’s pheromonal, he usually has to be in actual wolf form to pick it up. This – smelling everything and anything while still in human form – is unsettling and vaguely nauseating.

Still, he can get over all that. He stops drinking coffee, powers through his meals as best he can without puking, and slowly learns to tune all the new smells back out. It makes for a stressful first few weeks of class, but it beats the alternative of actually thinking about it.

He’d probably be content to ignore all the signs indefinitely, to be honest, except then a few weeks into the semester, a strange alpha sits next to him in his morning history lecture. Not just any alpha – an unmated alpha. A big, strong unmated alpha, and Tyler’s pulse goes a little crazy from the proximity. It’s not a good, sexy kind of crazy, either. It’s more like he’s scared, even though he doesn’t know why he would feel that way. Alphas can be intimidating when they want to be, but Tyler’s a big guy and he can take care of himself if it comes down to it. 

He tries to ignore it, tries to pay attention to the professor, but the alpha keeps giving him looks. Lots of wolves have been giving him looks lately when he gets too close, and Tyler’s been trying really hard not to think about why. But this guy, his look isn’t idle curiosity or even a judging glare. The way he’s looking at Tyler is… hungry. He doesn’t make a move or say anything, though, so Tyler just concentrates on taking notes about Asena.

When the lecture (finally, finally) ends, Tyler packs up his bag in a hurry. The alpha is still looking at him, and Tyler doesn’t especially want to stick around to make conversation with him.

“Hey,” the guy says.

Tyler ignores him, but the guy doesn’t take the hint.

“You smell good,” the guy says. “Sweet. I bet you taste fucking great.”

And, okay, that’s insultingly forward, even for a wolf.

Tyler turns to glare at him.

“Not interested, man,” he snaps.

He shoves his tablet into his bag and yanks the zipper shut, then slings it onto his shoulder.

“Excuse me,” he says, tone the bare edge of politeness as he pushes past the guy.

“Hey,” the guy says, “wait a second.”

And then he puts his hand on Tyler’s waist.

Before he even knows what he’s doing, Tyler snarls and snaps, shoving the guy backward hard enough he falls into Tyler’s vacated seat. He lands with a crash and every eye in the half-full lecture hall is suddenly on the pair of them.

Tyler stares at the guy, who looks pissed off and embarrassed. What the fuck was that? It was like Tyler wasn’t in control of himself, like some deeper instinct took over. The wolf in him didn’t like that alpha’s hand on his waist, so close to…

“Oh god,” Tyler hears himself say.

He turns and walks out of the lecture hall in a daze, running into people and tripping over stairs. It’s easier once he’s outside because it’s less crowded, but he still walks home on autopilot and doesn’t remember it afterward.

He’s going to have to do it. He’s going to have to take the test. 

He passes Jamie in the living room. Jamie says something indistinct but Tyler isn’t really paying attention. 

The box is still in his travel bag where he left it, because he hasn’t gotten around to unpacking it the whole way. He opens it with shaking fingers. There’s a long skinny test inside. The instructions say to pee on it and wait two minutes. If there’s a plus, he’s pregnant. If there’s a minus, he’s in the clear. If the control line isn’t there, he fucked it up and he’ll have to go buy another test.

He unzips and pees on the test. Then he puts it down and tries not to look at it as he tucks himself back into his pants. He sets an alarm on his phone and closes his eyes to wait.

It feels like fucking forever, but eventually the alarm goes off. Hands still shaking, he picks up the test. He takes a deep breath and then looks down.

Plus sign. Pregnant.

There’s a ringing in his ears. He loses his grip and the test falls to clatter on the ground.

Pregnant. Oh god, he’s pregnant.

There’s a sudden loud pounding on the door and Tyler jumps and hunkers down, instincts taking over.

“Ty?” Jamie calls, voice loud and scared. “Tyler are you- what’s going on? You smell like- can I come in?”

Tyler can’t make his mouth move to answer, but he lets out a high whining sound and Jamie doesn’t ask again. He pushes the door open with too much force and it bounces against the opposite wall with a bang. 

“Ty,” he says. He crosses the room in one long step and pulls Tyler into his arms. “Ty, what happened?”

Tyler opens his mouth and nothing comes out. He doesn’t know where his voice went. He shoves his face into Jamie’s shoulder and just focuses on breathing.  
Jamie’s scent helps, even frantic as it is, and the shaking in Tyler’s hands slowly stops. After a few minutes, he even manages to find his voice again. 

“Jesus Christ,” he says. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Tyler,” Jamie says, and he sounds and smells calmer, too, now that his instincts to protect have been satisfied. “What happened?”

“I fucked up, Jamie,” Tyler says around the lump in his throat. “I really fucked up this time.”

“What happened?” Jamie says again, and this time there’s something in his voice – something that compels Tyler to tell him the truth.

Slowly, shakily, he disentangles himself from Jamie and bends down to pick up the test stick. Without looking up, he hands it to Jamie.

Jamie takes it.

“What’s this?”

Tyler doesn’t look at him, but bares his throat. The human in him knows Jamie won’t abandon him over this, but the overpowering wolf instinct tells him his place in Jamie’s pack is at stake.

Jamie swallows audibly. “Is this… you’re – oh god.”

He doesn’t say anything else, and Tyler’s eyes start to burn.

“Jamie,” he says, voice thick. “Jamie, I’m sorry.”

Jamie takes a deep, shaky breath, and then uses his hand on the back of Tyler’s neck to pull him closer.

“Hey,” he says. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay. We’ll figure this out. Together. That’s… that’s what pack does.”

A sob forces it’s way out of Tyler, taking him by surprise. Jamie holds him tighter.

“It’s okay, Segs,” he says. “We’re gonna be fine.”

Tyler blinks back tears and dares to look up into Jamie’s face. He looks worried, but not mad, not scared. He looks like an alpha holding it together while his packmate loses his shit. 

God, Tyler loves him so much.

“I’m sorry,” he says again.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Jamie says immediately.

There is, though, and Tyler knows it. People are going to look at him and know he’s unmated, and they’re going to judge him for that. They’re going to look at their pack and knows this isn’t Jamie’s baby and they’re going to think Jamie’s a bad alpha for letting Tyler run wild. Jamie’s going to be stuck raising a pup that’s not his, and maybe that’s going to scare away potential mates. This is going to ruin Jamie’s life, and it’s all Tyler’s fault.

“Ty,” Jamie says, and leans his forehead against Tyler’s. “It was midterms last semester, right?”

Tyler nods. He doesn’t remember enough of that night to prove it, but it couldn’t have been any other night.

“I was out that night, too,” Jamie reminds him. “We went out together. Whatever happened – whoever you took to bed – that was while I was supposed to be with you. This isn’t just your fault. We went out together, we’ll deal with the consequences together. I swear, you won’t be alone with this.”

Tyler should fight on him it. No matter what Jamie did or didn’t do that night, Tyler was the one who let an unknown stranger fuck him. He should deal with this on his own and leave Jamie out of it. It would be the right thing to do.

Tyler’s never been that good a person.

“Jamie,” he says. “Thank you.”

_I love you_ , he wants to say, but this isn’t the time or the place. Jamie has enough to deal with now without having to let Tyler down easy.

/////

They have to tell Jordie, of course. Jamie does the deed after supper when they’re fucking around on the Xbox.

“So Tyler’s pregnant,” he blurts our halfway through a mission.

There’s absolutely no lead up, and Tyler would palm his face if he weren’t so busy being embarrassed and ashamed. 

Jordie’s eyes go wide and he mashes pause on the game, but when he turns to look at them, his expression isn’t that surprised.

“So you guys-” he starts.

Jamie cuts him off quickly. “No,” he says. “Not me. We don’t know who.”

Jordie gets a weird look on his face, then. “Are you sure?” he says. “Because Segs, you smells like…”

“Yeah,” Tyler manages to get out. “I’m sure.”

He’s only taken the one test, but it’s not like there’s any question, not with all the symptoms. He’s been trying to talk himself out of believing it since the missed heat, but there’s no doubt about it, not now.

Jordie gives Tyler a long look, then turns back to the game.

“Congratulations, I guess,” he says. “First pack baby. That’s a fucking milestone, right?”

Tyler feels himself start to choke up.

“Thanks,” he says.

Probably no one else on earth is going to look at it that way, but Jordie’s support means a fucking lot right now. The pack is standing by Tyler’s dumb mistake, and Tyler thinks that means it’s going to be okay. Not great, but okay. And they can deal with the rest as it comes.

/////

The first thing Jamie does after finding out the truth is make Tyler tell him everything – all the weird symptoms and side-effects. His doesn’t look happy about the incident in the lecture hall, but the way he paws through Tyler’s hair after makes Tyler think that’s got more to do with a strange wolf touching one of his pack than about Tyler getting defensive and making a scene.

“I think he could smell it on me,” Tyler admits.

Jamie looks even less pleased about that bit of information.

“I knew there was something different,” he says slowly. “Jordie, too. You smell… sweeter.”

Tyler sighs. “Great,” he says. “So all the alphas on campus are gonna want up on me.”

“No!” Jamie says at once, and then flushes. He clears his throat. “No, uh, not if you already smell like an alpha. If you smell like me or Jordie, they won’t be able to tell you’re not mated unless they get close. Which they won’t have any reason to.”

Tyler realizes what he’s implying and starts to grin.

“Jamie Benn,” he says slowly, “are you giving me permission to steal your clothes?”

Jamie gives him the flat look that means he secretly thinks Tyler is funny. 

“For a limited time,” he says. “After this is over, I’m putting a padlock on my dresser.”

Tyler’s still smiling and it feels fucking nice after the day he’s had. 

“You can try, buddy,” he says.

Thing is – and Jamie clearly doesn’t know it – Tyler can pick locks.

/////

Tyler starts going to class in Jamie’s hoodies and, sure enough, the wolves who were giving him looks before mostly back off. He still gets a few overly-interested alphas tailing him across campus, but a snarl and a glare is always enough to drive them away. Tyler isn’t exactly new to smelling like Jamie, but this is the first time he’s ever had to project the scent, so it means a lot of fidgeting and playing with the the cuffs of his sleeves.

The scent also has the side effect of keeping Tyler level-headed and calm, even at times when he really wants to freak out about the magnitude of it all. He’s not worried anymore about Jamie kicking him out of the pack – that was a stupid panicky idea and he can acknowledge now that it was dumb – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other things to worry about. Tyler knows literally nothing about kids. He always figured he’d have some someday (maybe little dark-haired, brown-eyed things), but that was something for when he was older, not right the fuck now. He doesn’t even know how to change a diaper, let alone any of the other more complicated things he needs to know. 

And it’s not just the physical aspect he’s worried about. How is he going to support this kid? He’s had a job every summer since he was old enough to work (that’s partly how he pays his rent during the school year), but that’s not enough to support a kid. Kids need so much stuff and all of it costs ridiculous amounts of money. He’ll probably have to quit school and get a full-time job. It’s a shitty option, but what’s the alternative? 

And that’s not even getting into the fact that Tyler is definitely not the ideal choice to raise a fully functional wolf. He doesn’t even have his own shit together, so how is he going to raise a pup? No one would ever look at Tyler and think, yep he’s a great candidate for parenthood.

Thank god for Jamie, at least. If anyone can save this poor pup from its unfortunate parentage, it’s him. Tyler still feels kind of guilty that he’s messing up Jamie’s life along with his own, but Jamie keeps telling him this is what pack is for. 

Maybe some day Tyler will actually believe that.


	4. Chapter 4

Tyler does have friends who aren’t Jamie and Jordie. Human friends, even, because college is all about diversity. He likes them and for the most part their differences don’t get in the way. Sometimes, though, there are serious communication barriers.

“Wait,” Anya says. “What?!”

Tyler sighs. He’s not saying it again. They’re at lunch, and Tyler obviously isn’t eating well. He could have made up an excuse but these are his friends and anyway, it’s all going to be obvious soon enough.

“You heard me,” he says. 

“Pregnant?” Anya says. She sounds excited about it, but she’s pretty much always excited about something.

“Huh,” Madison says. “Didn’t know you were that kind of werewolf.”

“Omega,” Tyler supplies, suddenly not sure she knows the right word.

It’s entirely possible he never specifically told them he was one. He doesn’t ordinarily need to say it – other wolves can just smell it on him and humans don’t usually need to know.

“And you don’t have birth control?”

Tyler sighs. “Nah. I mean, they make it but, like, it has all these warnings and I just figured it would be easier to, you know, wrap it before I tapped it.”

“But you didn’t,” Anya points out.

“Well, no,” Tyler agrees.

Maddy rolls her eyes. “I’d say you should try the gay as a form of birth control, but…”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Tyler says.

“What are you going to do?” Anya asks.

“Do?” What is there to do? All the doing has already been done.

“Are you going to keep it?”

Oh. Oh... 

Tyler honestly hasn’t even considered that he might have _options_.

“I guess… I guess I don’t know.”

It feels almost scandalous to hear Anya bringing the topic up so casually. But that’s humans, he supposes. That sort of thing isn’t widely talked about among wolves. Tyler doesn’t think he even knows anyone who’s done it – unless they have and are keeping it quiet. Then again, maybe all his omega acquaintances were just smart enough to find a mate before getting knocked up.

“I should talk to Jamie,” Tyler says slowly.

“Wait,” Madison says, and sets her cup down hard. “Is Jamie your baby-daddy?”

They’ve met Jamie, even sometimes hang out with him. More than that, they know how embarrassingly in love with him Tyler is.

“No,” Tyler says, trying not to sound like this is the heartbreak of his life. “He’s just pack.”

Maddy and Anya share a look.

“Pack is family,” Tyler clarifies. “And when you make a decision, your family should know.”

Madison makes a face like maybe she doesn’t agree, but Anya nods a little bit. She gets it, he thinks, at least as much as a human can.

“Well,” Madison says at last, “let us know when you’re ready for a baby shower, I guess.”

/////

Tyler hadn’t given ending the pregnancy much thought before that, but he does some serious soul searching afterward. And, he realizes quickly, that’s not his only option. There’s always adoption, as well. There are wolf couples out there who can’t have kids – non-traditional couples or infertile omegas – who would take a pup off his hands.

It would be hard, though. Both of those options would be hard. As much as the thought of parenthood scares the shit out of him, he’s probably already attached at some level. Maybe he could go through with ending it all right now, but could he actually give the kid away in another seven months? Probably not, especially once he learns its scent.

So if he’s going to do something, it’s got to be soon. And that means he has to talk to Jamie about it.

He brings it up casually while they’re cooking dinner, before Jordie gets home.

“Hey, so I was talking to the girls today and I told them about – you know – and they asked about… other options.”

Jamie’s brow furrows. “Other options?”

“Yeah,” Tyler says, fingers toying with the hem of his too-long hoodie. “You know, like… not keeping it.”

“Like adoption?” Jamie asks. “I think we might get too attached to go through with that. The scent...”

“I was thinking that, too,” Tyler agrees. “But like, we’re not attached yet, so we could still do something now. We could still… get rid of it, you know?”

Jamie stares at him for a long, long minute. He’s wearing an unreadable expression that means he’s thinking very hard about something.

At last he looks away, deliberately letting the dominance slip away from him.

He says, voice soft, “Whatever you want to do, Ty.”

And Tyler appreciates that, god knows, but it also doesn’t help him make a decision. 

“But what do you think I should do?” he presses.

Jamie shrugs stiffly. “I can’t answer that,” he says. “It has to be your decision.”

Then he turns away toward the stove and the conversation is closed.

Tyler still thinks about it, though. Jamie was no freaking help at all but that doesn’t really change anything. Tyler still has to make the call – and soon.

He tries to be logical about the whole thing: pros vs cons of having a baby right now. The cons are easy: can’t afford it, probably won’t be good at it, will interrupt his education, it’s not Jamie’s baby. The pros are a little bit harder to list out, but after a lot of speculation, he has: going to have kids eventually anyway, already stating to get attached, might drive off potential mates for Jamie. That last one should definitely not be in the pros category but it is anyway and Tyler feels like a total asshole about it.

He gives himself a week to make a decision, and he deliberates and wavers up until the very last night when he does something monumentally stupid: he downloads one of those stupid apps that tell you how much your baby is growing week over week. 

This week, Tyler’s pup is the size of a prune. 

Tyler’s never eaten a prune before, and they don’t look like a good time. But this isn’t actually a prune – it’s a growing little almost-baby with fingernails and peach fuzz and goddamn kidneys.

Fuck, who was Tyler kidding – he was never going to be able to end the pregnancy. He was probably attached from the very first moment Jamie held him and promised they’d do it together. 

He tells Jamie the next day, because he figures that’s the kind of thing Jamie should know, even if he doesn’t have an opinion about it one way or another. He finds Jamie on the couch in the living room staring absently at some hockey game on TV. 

“Hey,” he says, and pats the seat next to him. “You okay?”

Tyler sits.

“Yeah,” he says, and for now he means it. “I’m okay. Just thinking. I’m, uh, gonna keep the baby.”

Instantly, Jamie’s shoulders relax. 

“Oh, thank god,” he says in a rushed breath.

Tyler just stares.

“You said you didn’t care,” he says, and okay, maybe that sounds a little accusing. But… did Jamie lie to him?

“No, I didn’t,” Jamie says at once. “I just… I didn’t want you to keep it for me. It’s not my body, Ty, and it’s not… I don’t want you to ever feel like you have to do something just because I want you to.”

“I don’t,” Tyler says. “But you’re my best friend, Jamie. I care about what you think. And you’re…”

… _the closest thing to a father this baby’s going to have_ , he doesn’t say.

“You’re pack,” he says instead. “If you can’t stop me from doing something stupid, who can?”

Jamie huffs a laugh and pets Tyler’s hair. Tyler leans into it.

“I do my best,” Jamie says, “but you make it a hard job, man.”

He’s grinning, though – pleased and apparently content to let Tyler lean on him – so Tyler doesn’t feel too bad about that.

After a minute or two of cuddling, Jamie says, “Hey, do you have a doctor here?”

“Not really. I usually just go to the campus health center when I need something. Why, you think we need an appointment somewhere?”

Jamie looks thoughtful. “Can’t hurt. Especially since… it might be higher risk, since you don’t have a bite.”

Tyler sits up straight. Oh fuck. Is that a thing? He knew people would judge him for not being mated, but is he putting his pup in danger, too?

“Hey,” Jamie says and circles the back of Tyler’s neck with one of this big hands. “We don’t know anything for sure. That’s why we need an appointment. But it’s probably nothing.”

The touch helps but… not enough. 

Jesus. Every time he stops worrying about something, another thing pops up to take its place.

“Let’s play something,” Jamie says suddenly, shoving Tyler away so he can grab the controllers. “Bet you can’t beat me on rainbow road.”

Obviously Tyler can’t turn that down. 

“Oh you’re on.”

/////

There’s only one local wolf obstetrician, so the next appointment they can get is a few weeks out. Jamie tells him not to worry in the meantime, and Tyler does his best to make that happen. He distracts himself by hanging out with Anya and Maddy, playing Xbox with Jamie and Jordie, and trying not to puke in class.

His 21st birthday is much less of a big deal than it might be if he could actually drink or was inclined to stay up past ten pm. He invites a few folks over on a Saturday afternoon, and Jamie braves the cold deck to grill them some burgers. They drink beer and snack on chips Jordie bought, and then later there’s cake and presents. 

“We were gonna buy you beer and strippers,” Maddy says. “But then you got yourself knocked up. So here’s a gift card for a massage. You’re gonna need it, bro.”

“We’ll buy you shots this summer,” Anya adds. “You’ll need those, too.”

“You better not forget,” Tyler warns her. “The second this baby is out of me, I want so many shots.”

Spezza gives him a look. “You’re not breastfeeding?”

Tyler sighs. “Fuck, probably. Okay, well as soon as the kid’s off the tit, then we’ll have shots.”

“Breastfeeding?” Maddy asks, eyeing Tyler’s chest with interest. “You gonna make some milk in those little tiddies, Ty?”

Tyler slaps a hand protectively over his chest, which, okay, has been pretty fucking sore lately. 

“Oh, they’ll get bigger,” Jason assures her, and he licks his lips.

It’s about that time that Jamie wanders over to stand by Tyler and puts an arm around his waist. The sweat from his palms wipes off against Tyler’s shirt, effectively transferring his scent.

“What are you guys talking about?” he asks innocently, like wasn’t just staking a claim.

“Tyler’s nipples,” Anya says casually, and then she and Maddy grin at each other.

Tyler frowns and leans into Jamie – and okay, maybe a little away from Spez. “I’m all for nipple talk,” he says, “but don’t let me hog the spotlight. Anya, I’ve heard some rumors about piercings. Let’s see those beauts, eh?”

/////

The OB appointment is on a Wednesday afternoon when neither Tyler or Jamie has any classes. The doctor works out of a building downtown with a great view of the lake. The waiting room is crowded, but the wait isn’t too bad, especially since Tyler has to fill out a bunch of forms with his insurance information and medical history and stuff.

They do a physical exam first, which includes getting blood drawn and stripping down so the doctor can probe him. Jamie offers to leave the room during that part, but it’s not like Tyler’s shy. Jamie knows what his body looks like, and he knows how omega parts work. Is Tyler supposed to be embarrassed about slicking up around a speculum? Jamie’s had to buy Tyler pantyliners before for pre-heat days – it’s not like there are any secrets between them at this point. Jamie’s scent does go kind of heavy while the exam is happening, but that’s probably just alpha instinct at seeing an omega so spread open; it would happen with anyone.

The ultrasound itself is really fucking something, because it’s proof there’s a goddamn baby in there. Not like Tyler thought the test and the symptoms were wrong, but seeing it like this makes it real in a way it never has been before. It hits Jamie hard, too – Tyler can tell by the way his scent goes soft and his eyes get wet. Honestly, Tyler doesn’t know what to do with that information. It’s more instinct – has to be – but part of Tyler gets his hopes up anyway. It’ll only hurt down the road, but he can’t help himself.

Tyler puts his clothes back on after that and they have a meeting with the doctor. Blood work and ultrasound look normal, she tells them, except that there’s none of the mating hormone.

“I see you don’t have a bite mark,” she says to Tyler. She looks between Tyler and Jamie, eyebrow raised. “If you’re worried about the safety of initiating the bite while pregnant, it’s a non-issue. Your pheromones will change, obviously, but not in a way that’s dangerous to your body or the pup.”

Tyler can feel himself blushing. 

“No,” he manages to say. “It’s… we’re not together.”

“Ah,” she says, and writes something down. “Well in that case I’d suggest as much physical contact as possible between you. Alpha scent promotes healthy fetal development.”

Jamie coughs. He’s blushing, too.

“That’s not a problem.”

“Good,” she says, and moves on to the types of foods and activities Tyler should avoid for best health, and gives him a recommendation for prenatals.

At the end of it she says, “Do you have any questions for me?”

Tyler hates when people ask that, because he never has any questions and always feels like he should. Luckily, Jamie has his back and asks a bunch of questions about emergency protocol and how labor is regulated and whether it would be better to deliver in wolf or human form. He writes the answers down, too, because he’s a responsible alpha and knows Tyler way too well. The doctor also has a bunch of pamphlets available, so they take one of each as they’re leaving.

“Damn,” Tyler says once they’re in the car headed home. “How did you think of all that stuff to ask, JaBenn?”

“Google,” Jamie says simply. “You know, that thing online where you type your question and it gives you life advice?”

“Fuck You, Jamie,” Tyler says, but they both know what he really means is: thanks.


	5. Chapter 5

The morning sickness lasts a few more weeks, and it really gets worse before it gets better. Tyler tries to tough it out, but he ends up missing some of his morning classes. He makes it in for most of the tests, but if he knows it’s not a quiz day all bets are off.

“So, I think I might drop some of my classes,” he tells Jamie and Jordie at dinner one night. “I might fail otherwise.”

Jamie frowns at him. “If you’re having a bad time with assignments, we can be study buddies again like we were a few years ago. Be harder to get distracted if we’re both working at the same time.”

Tyler considers. “Maybe. But it’s not just that. Morning classes have been fucking rough lately. I’m so goddamn tired all the time.”

“Yeah, I noticed you’ve been all wolfed out napping on the couch when I get home,” Jordie chimes in. “More wolf than person lately. You been eating grass, too?”

“Fuck you,” Tyler says. “You try having a life-sucking parasite in you, eh?”

“I’m good,” Jordie says at once. “You’ve really got that next generation angle covered for now.”

Tyler snarls at him, but then Jamie smacks the back of his head and says, “Hey, take it outside. Or just knock it off.”

“I could take you,” Tyler tells Jordie in an undertone.

“Next full moon, you’re on,” Jordie shoots back.

They snipe back and forth for the rest of dinner while Jamie rolls his eyes at them. Afterward Jordie puts on the game and they all pile onto the couch. 

“You really going to drop?” Jamie asks on a commercial break. He’s got his hand running up and down Tyler’s spine and it’s making Tyler shivery.

Tyler sighs and shrugs. “I don’t want to, but I don’t know if I have a choice. Better to drop than to fail. And maybe I won’t even go back to school next year, anyway.”

“You want to stay at home with the pup?”

“No,” Tyler says. “Not really. Couldn’t afford it anyway. But babies cost a lot of money, Jamie. I need to get a job, figure out how I’m gonna pay for shit.”

Jamie looks away and breathes out a long sigh.

“Look,” he says, “You asked me to stop you from doing anything stupid. This isn’t a good idea, Ty.”

Tyler huffs.

“I’m not happy about it, either, okay? But I don’t have a choice. I can’t raise a kid with no money!”

“You don’t have to,” Jamie tells him. “Let the pack take care of you – both of you. I have a job lined up already. Starts just after graduation. That’ll give us a few months to get some savings together.”

“What about the stuff we need? We can’t save if we’re buying a bunch of baby stuff.”

“Baby shower,” Jordie cuts in without taking his eyes away from the TV. “Kind of a human thing, but I know a few wolves who’ve had them. Plus you get to be the center of attention, Segs. Know you can’t turn that down.”

Tyler flips him off. Damn Jordie for being right. 

“You’re okay with that?” he asks Jamie. 

It’s one thing to provide for one another collectively as a pack, but letting people outside the pack – especially humans – provide for them could be insulting to Jamie’s honor as a pack alpha. 

Jamie shrugs. “I’ll live. Like you said, not many choices.”

“You’ll say something, though, right? If it gets to be too much?”

“Yeah,” Jamie agrees. “Don’t worry about me.”

The thing is, Tyler _does_ worry about Jamie. None of this can be easy on him, and he never cracks under the pressure. It can’t be easy, being the person that keeps the pack from falling apart. Tyler does what he can and so does Jordie, but the world revolves around Jamie and they all know it. 

Tyler slumps into Jamie and rests his cheek against Jamie’s shoulder. He can’t do much, but he can at least provide cuddles. 

They watch about half a period in silence, then Jordie breaks in again.

“So, when are you gonna tell mom? Because she’s been bugging me about grandkids for about the past two years, and that would be super great to pass along.”

Jamie looks at Tyler, clearly leaving this decision up to him. 

Tyler thinks about it. His mom already knows something’s up, but he doesn’t really want to have that conversation with her. On the other hand, dragging his feet isn’t going to make the situation any better. Might as well get it over with.

“Soon,” he promises at last, and pushes his head up under Jamie’s chin. “I’ll do it soon.”

/////

Tyler makes some time the next weekend to hole up in his room and phone his mom.

“Tyler?” she says the second she answers. “Are you okay?”

Her voice sounds tense and Tyler hates himself a little bit for making her worry. How much of a terrible son must he be for her to assume he’s always going to need bailed out of one situation or another?

“I’m fine,” he says. “Just, uh, have some news.”

There’s a scuffling sound from her end, then his mom says, “Okay, tell me.”

Tyler takes a breath in and holds it just a second, trying to get himself under control. He lets it out slowly.

“I’m pregnant,” he says. 

She doesn’t say anything, not for a long minute. Then she says in a quiet voice, “It’s not Jamie’s, is it?”

Tyler’s lower lip starts to tremble.

“No,” he says. “Mom, I really fucked up. I fucked up so bad and I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh, baby,” she says, and Tyler’s eyes sting. “What did Jamie say?”

“J-just that he’ll take care of me. That I’m still pack.”

He wipes his running nose with the back of his hand.

“Oh, baby,” she says again. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Jamie’s a good man. He’s a good alpha. If he says he’s going to take care of you then he’ll take care of you. And if you ever need to come home, we’ll take care of you, too.”

“I’m scared,” Tyler admits. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“You’re smart, Tyler,” she says and he knows that isn’t true but appreciates it anyway. “You’ll figure it out. And Jamie has a good head on his shoulders. It’ll all be okay.”

He wants to believe her. But she’s his mother – she has to say that stuff. She’s right about Jamie, though; if anyone can take care of them, it’s him.

They talk for a while more, basically just her reassuring Tyler that he’s not a total fuck-up and that things are going to work out. He feels a little bit better by the time they hang up, and he promises to send her a copy of the ultrasound pictures.

He takes a nap after that because emotions are exhausting. He wakes up a few hours later and wanders out to the living room to find Jamie stretched out on the couch with a book in hand. 

“Hey,” Jamie says. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Tyler says. He collapses on top of Jamie and buries his face against his shoulder. “Fine. Just… talked to my mom earlier.”

“You smell upset,” Jamie says, nosing into Tyler’s hair. “How’d she take it?”

“She wasn’t mad,” Tyler says. “I think she kind of expected it.”

“Because you missed heat,” Jamie says.

“Yeah,” Tyler says. “But even before that. I think she’s kind of always known this would happen, ever since I started college. It’s just how people like me end up.”

“Hey,” Jamie says, soft but forceful. “You’re not a fuck-up, Ty. You’re a good guy and I’m really fucking glad you’re in my pack. Okay?”

Tyler takes a ragged breath. 

“Yeah,” he says. He’s not sure he believes that – not sure he’ll ever believe it, but for Jamie’s sake he wants to try. He wants to deserve Jamie and his pack. He wants to be the kind of guy Jamie would choose to mate with.

It’ll never happen, but it’s nice to have dreams.

/////

The next few weeks are better than the last ones in a lot of ways. Jamie really does make time for study dates and that combined with a decrease in the nausea mean Tyler is able to turn his semester around. They also make time to price some baby stuff out and figure what they’ll be able to afford and what they’ll need to ask for from their families and friends. Tyler keeps a close eye on Jamie every time they add something to the registry but he never shows any signs of being insecure in his authority. It’s not surprising – Tyler’s mom always says a good alpha always provides for their pack no matter what it takes, and Jamie’s the best alpha Tyler knows.

Overall, everything’s going pretty well, except that Tyler’s clothes stop fitting. It’s not a big deal, not really, especially when he can just steal Jamie’s clothes instead. It is kind of a blow to his self-image, though. He hasn’t reached the undeniably-pregnant phase yet, so he mostly just looks chunky. And, okay, that’s not the end of the world either. It’s silly to be worried about his looks when he has much bigger problems.

Jamie doesn’t seem to mind, at least. He still cuddles Tyler the same as always, still lets his hand rest on Tyler’s waist when they stand side by side. Sometimes when Tyler’s lying on the couch or leaning back against the kitchen counter, he sees Jamie giving his belly thoughtful looks, like he’s not quite sure what to make of it. It must be strange for him, that Tyler’s got a tiny little wolf pup inside him. 

It’s also deeply strange for Tyler. Not at first, but after the doctor’s appointment he sometimes just stares at the sonogram picture for minutes at a time and puts his hand on his belly and thinks _holy shit_.

The thing is though… even though he knows there’s a pup in there, he doesn’t really feel connected to it like he thinks he probably should. He knows it’s real, looks at the picture ten times a day, but even then he can’t wrap his mind around the fact that it’s going to be an actual fucking baby someday.

Probably that makes him a terrible person, or at least a terrible omega. Like all those omegas in movies and stuff (the domestic ones, not the slutty ones) always jump into parenthood with fucking two feet. They always know exactly what to do, how to handle themselves and their babies. But Tyler’s not like that. Sure he’s had daydreams about having kids (kids with pretty brown eyes, sure), but he doesn’t know how to translate those warm fuzzy feelings into reality for the little parasite he’s growing.

Some nights he lies awake worrying about it, about whether he’s broken, about whether he’s going to be the worst parent in the world. On those nights, he does what he always does when he can’t sleep – he creeps down the hall on silent feet and climbs into Jamie’s bed with him. 

Tonight is one of those nights. Tyler tosses and turns for a few hours. He tries counting sheep to appeal to the wolffish side of him, but after 200 he’s still awake and also vaguely hungry. He finally gives in and goes to sleep with Jamie. Jamie only barely wakes up when Tyler climbs under the covers

“Ty?” he mumbles sleepily.

Tyler doesn’t say anything, just settles in next to him.

The position must not be exactly what Jamie wants, though, because he wraps strong arms around Tyler and drags him closer so Tyler’s back is to Jamie’s chest. Then he pushes Tyler’s head up and forward so his neck is in the perfect position for Jamie to scent.

Awake, Jamie’s the nicest guy on earth. Asleep, he takes what he wants.

“Smell sweet,” Jamie says, voice still slurred with sleep. “Like almonds.”

Tyler doesn’t normally like when alphas tell him stuff like that – it’s a little bit creepy and he’s been getting it a lot these past few months. But it’s different when Jamie says it. Tyler likes to be sweet for Jamie.

He hums gently and pushes back into Jamie’s solid body. 

Jamie sighs and nuzzles lightly into the skin behind Tyler’s ear. His hand, which had been wrapped around Tyler’s rib cage, drifts down to rub at his belly instead. Tyler squirms, ticklish all of a sudden, and Jamie growls low in his throat. It’s a warning, and Tyler freezes but he can’t help the curl of his toes or the way he suddenly starts leaking into his underwear. 

Jamie doesn’t react, which means he’s probably falling back asleep. Well that’s good; it’ll give Tyler a chance to be embarrassed in private. It’s not the first time this had happened – not with the two of them in such close proximity – but it never stops being vaguely mortifying.

Well, it’ll be dry by morning probably. And if Jamie notices the smell of omega slick on his sheets, it’s not like Tyler had much dignity before all this. He’ll just blame it on pregnancy hormones.

/////

Needless to say, Tyler’s libido comes back with a vengeance once he stops being nauseous all the time. He doesn’t know if it’s the pup making him all turned on or if his body’s just trying to make up for a few months of inactivity. Either way, it hits him at really inconvenient times, and he has to make daily use of the cloth pantyliners his sister bought him for Christmas.

He also makes use of his knotted dildo – the big green one that vibrates. It’s kind of an awkward reach, what with the baby bump in the way, but Tyler is a very determined boy.

He’s got this fantasy, right? It’s the kind of thing he dredges up when he’s feeling horny and suppresses brutally he rest of the time. It goes like this: Jamie backs him up against something (a wall, a counter, the back of the couch, doesn’t matter) and uses his weight advantage to hold Tyler there. Maybe he’s got a hand on Tyler’s neck, and the other one is at Tyler’s waist. Jamie kisses him and he doesn’t give Tyler a choice about it. He pulls back, puts his mouth against Tyler’s ear and says, “I know you’re wet for me, Segs.” Then he yanks down Tyler’s pants (maybe the zipper breaks, that’s how much of a hurry Jamie’s in), spins him around and just fucks into him. He’d be rough and fast, Tyler thinks, and he’d be so goddamn big, filling Tyler up completely. His knot has got to be something really fucking special, Tyler’s convinced. 

And that’s usually about as far as Tyler gets into the fantasy before he comes, clenching around the vibrator. Then, inevitably, the fantasy changes to something else – something softer, with Jamie cuddling him while they spoon up together. Jamie would kiss Tyler’s neck and tell him how good he is, how he’s the sweetest omega Jamie’s ever met.

Eventually (and always), Tyler starts to get cold and uncomfortably sticky, and his fantasy pretty much dies. Until the next time when his too-tight shirt or an enticing smell or a stiff breeze turns him on again.

One of these days Jordie is going to ask what keeps happening to all the AAA batteries, and then Tyler will have to kill him out of embarrassment. He hopes Jamie won’t be too sad about that.

/////

They try to get out at least a few times a month and run at the ravine, but Tyler hasn’t been feeling up to it. Every time he shifts he ends up just sleeping on the couch or in a beam of sunlight from the window like a damn house cat. March is really the first month he can make himself tag along with Jordie and Jamie when they head out.

He’d forgotten, a bit, how much fun wolfing around together can be. They play chase and do some hunting and wrestle one another, and the whole time Tyler would be laughing if that was a thing wolves do.

Tyler and Jordie do get the chance to have it out, and Tyler gives him a run for his money before letting himself be pinned. Jordie’s gentle about it, mindful of Tyler’s belly, but he doesn’t hesitate about taking Tyler down. It’s exactly how Tyler wants it; he won’t roll over and let just anyone pin him without putting up a good fight first. The only person he lets pin him every single time is Jamie, and that’s only because it’s instinct. Jordie might be an alpha but he’s not pack alpha and that makes a difference.

When they’re finished playing they all collapse into a puppy pile. Jordie lays his head on Tyler’s back, and Jamie puts his head directly on top of Tyler’s. Tyler’s yawns and lets his eyes fall shut, enjoying the closeness. 

Will they still do this once the pup is born? It’ll be good for the little one to find their legs, especially since they’ll be much steadier as a wolf than as a person for at least the first year. What will it feel like, to have a little dark-furred puppy curled up in their pile?

Tyler blinks and mentally shakes himself. There’s no guarantee the pup will have dark fur – Tyler’s is mostly grey and the father’s is obviously a mystery. But to have a pup that looks like Jamie… well, it’s a silly idea, anyway.


	6. Chapter 6

By mid-April, even Jamie’s clothes don’t fit Tyler anymore, and he’s left with the choice of walking around naked or buying maternity clothes. If left to his own devices, he’d probably choose a life as a nudist, but Jamie and Jordie give him judging looks and he eventually lets the girls drag him to the mall. Well, okay, he lets Anya drag him to the mall; Maddy mostly just tags along to laugh at him. 

At the mall, he learns two things about maternity clothes: they’re ugly and they’re expensive. They go to the regular motherhood store first, but it’s almost all for women, so they head over to the tiny omega section in the wolf specialty store instead. 

“You’d think with all the wolves in this city they’d have more stuff,” Maddy says, eyeing an ugly striped shirt.

“The wolves here are all college kids and broke,” Tyler reminds her. “Can’t afford to shop in places like this.”

“You don’t shop here?” Anya asks, hand behind her back and a gleam in her eyes. “You’ve never, for example, bought a… knotted dildo?”

As she says it, she pulls a bright purple dildo out from behind her back and presents it with a flourish.

Tyler grins at her. “I didn’t say that. Green is more my color, though.”

“Oh my god, Ty,” Maddy says, taking the toy from Anya and curling her fist around the knot. “You fit this inside you? How?”

“You want a demonstration?” Tyler offers, only half joking.

“Absolutely not!” Maddy says at the same time Anya says, “Yes, obviously!”

They look at each other, each of them horrified with the other.

“So…” Tyler says after a second, “is this a dealbreaker?”

Maddy snorts.

“As if we’d break up over your pasty ass.”

“Hey,” Tyler snaps, “my ass is not pasty! Look, I’ll show you-”

And that’s the story of how they almost get kicked out of the mall. Again.

/////

Tyler only buys a few clothes at the mall because it’s all so expensive, but Jordie links him a discount site online that night and slowly, painfully, he starts putting together a new wardrobe.

The clothes are still huge and ugly, but on reflection it’s probably better than showing off his naked ass to judgmental humans. At least he can still wear Jamie’s hoodies (and hide in his scent), even if he can’t get them zipped anymore.

The whole thing is pretty depressing, and he spends a lot of time moping about it while pretending to study. Sometimes his moping leads to short naps, and sometimes when he wakes up, Jamie is already cooking dinner. Hanging around the kitchen making fun of Jamie’s skill with a paring knife always cheers Tyler up, at least. It’s hard to stay sad for long when Jamie is around – he’s just so goddamn solid and comforting.

One night it’s just the two of them at dinner – Jordie’s meeting a girl for a “drink or two” at a bar downtown. They’re eating steak salad because apparently Tyler needs more leafy greens or something.

“I feel like the prenatals make it so I don’t have to eat this stuff,” Tyler says, forking a steak chunk. Honestly, he doesn’t mind salad, just feels like being difficult. He knows he shouldn’t – not when Jamie looks so pleased to be eating something relatively healthy – but it’s been kind of a rough day.

“Well that was before you ate three jelly donuts this morning,” Jamie reminds him.

“I was hungry,” Tyler says, hunching his shoulders.

Jamie knocks his shoulder against Tyler’s. “Whatever makes you happy, I guess,” he says easily.

After they eat and clean up, they go into the living room and Jamie starts scrolling through the Netflix options. He picks the Great British Baking Show, and Tyler huffs.

“This is why I’m fat,” he says grumpily.

Jamie glances at him.

“Uh,” he says. “I think that might be a pup in there, actually.”

“The pup is like six inches long, man,” Tyler says. “How the fuck is he taking up so much space?”

Jamie shrugs. “Placenta?” he guesses.

“Yeah,” Tyler says snappily. “Placenta and donuts.”

“Oh my god, Ty,” Jamie says, and exits out of the show. He turns to look at Tyler more fully. 

“Look,” he says, “I understand how you feel, but there’s nothing we can do about it right now. We just have to keep eating well and then once the pup’s born, we’ll hit the gym together, get back into shape. But for now you’re just going to have to put up with it.”

Tyler snorts.

“Easy for you to say. You don’t get it – you’re hot!”

Jamie’s eyes go impossibly wide and his mouth falls open. For a second he just gapes.

Then he says slowly, “Are you kidding, Segs? Is that a joke?”

“What?” Tyler asks. Is Jamie weirded out because Tyler called him hot? Is that what this is about? Well too damn bad. “It’s true.”

Jamie’s eyes are still wide, but his mouth is starting to thin out like he’s pissed or something.

“Are you fucking kidding?” he says. “What world do you live in? Of course I get it! Do you not hear them calling me Chubbs? Do you not have eyes?”

“Oh,” Tyler says, because that’s not the conversation he thought they were going to have. But he stands by what he said.

“I mean you’re not a twink or anything but that doesn’t mean you’re not hot. I’d do you.”

His mouth says the last bit without his brain’s permission, and he can feel himself starting to turn red. He’s not easily embarrassed, but he’s been suppressing this crush for fucking years and now Jamie’s going to realize how desperate Tyler is, how needy. Jamie’s going to have to let Tyler down easy and then it’s going to be awkward and then Jordie is going to come home and laugh at them. 

But Jamie doesn’t do any of that. His face goes even more angry and he says, “Don’t lie to me, Tyler.”

Wait...what?

“Who’s lying?” Tyler says. His heart’s suddenly pounding and the hope is welling up in him. The only reason for Jamie to think Tyler is lying is if he doesn’t know the truth about Tyler’s feelings for him. But that’s ridiculous. Tyler’s been really fucking obvious. There’s no way Jamie doesn’t know. Like, fucking how?!

“Jamie,” he starts without knowing what he’s going to say. “You think I wouldn’t have sex with you? You think I wouldn’t do fucking anything to be your mate? Jesus Chris, Jamie, I’m so fucking in love with you it’s pathetic!”

He’s saying too much and he knows it, but he can’t bring himself to stop or take it back. 

Jamie doesn’t say anything, just stares with wide eyes.

“I love you,” Tyler says, voice small. “Don’t you dare tell me that’s a lie.”

For a second, Jamie just looks at him, face still frozen in disbelief.

Then he says, “But… you never said anything.”

Tyler sighs and slumps back onto the couch.

“Obviously,” he says to the ceiling. “I didn’t think you’d be interested. I’m a goddamn train wreck, Jamie, and we both know it. You deserve someone who’s not such a mess, someone whose baby is actually yours.”

“Stop it,” Jamie snaps suddenly in the voice of an alpha. 

Instinct makes Tyler’s head jerk up to look at him. 

“What kind of an asshole do you think I am?” Jamie asks. “Blood doesn’t matter. I don’t care who knocked you up, Tyler. That baby is _mine_!”

“Why?” Tyler asks desperately, because that’s the part of this he’s never understood.

Jamie sighs and the alpha authority seems to melt off him. He runs a hand through his hair.

“If you haven’t noticed by now how much I’m in love with you then you haven’t been paying attention.”

Tyler stares, not believing his ears.

“What?” he says. “What?”

“You heard me,” Jamie says.

And Tyler did but… it doesn’t make any sense! How could Jamie be in love with him? _Why_ would Jamie be in love with him?

“You can’t be,” he manages to say. “You… you would have made a move already!”

Jamie grimaces and it looks painful.

“When we met… you needed a pack more than a mate,” he says. “And then once you were mine I knew how easy it would be to force you. It had to be your choice. But you never asked for it, and there are so many other alphas you could choose from.”

Tyler stares at him. He feels like there’s something huge and light in his chest, like he swallowed a balloon. He pinches his thigh and it hurts. He’s not dreaming. This is real.

He clears his throat. 

“I choose you,” he says. “I always choose you.”

Jamie closes his eyes like he can’t believe it either, and it hits Tyler suddenly how ridiculous this whole situation is.

“Oh my god,” he says. “What the fuck, Jamie? Have we seriously been in love with each other this whole time and not said anything? We’re such fucking idiots!”

In an ideal world, he’d throw himself into Jamie’s lap and get with the making out, but he’s too pregnant for that.

“Help me up,” he says, holding out a hand. “And then take me to bed.”

Jamie takes his arm and heaves him up.

“Are you tired?” he asks, and Tyler honestly can’t tell if he’s joking or just trying to be noble.

“Hell no,” Tyler says. “I want fucked. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a knot in me?”

“Five months?” Jamie guesses, eyeing Tyler’s belly.

“Exactly!” Tyler says, then he leans in and kisses Jamie on the mouth.

It’s good, better than anyone Tyler’s ever kissed before. It could all be in his head but… Jamie just tastes so fucking good. Tyler licks into his mouth without even realizing it, chaising the taste of him, and Jamie moans and wraps an arm around Tyler’s back.

They’re both panting by the time Jamie pulls away, and Tyler feels slightly lightheaded. It could be the way Jamie smells (dark and heavy like Tyler’s smelled on him a hundred times before but stronger now and right in Tyler’s face), or it could be lack of airflow to his brain. Either way, he sways forward and lets Jamie support his weight.

“Last chance,” Jamie says, voice low and rough. “We can stop now.”

And Tyler’s dumb but he’s not that dumb, so he bares his throat and says, “But you want me, alpha.”

Jamie growls and his hands dig hard into Tyler’s shoulders. The pressure is only there for a second, then Jamie shoves Tyler back a few steps.

“Then run,” he snarls, and the bottom drops out of Tyler’s stomach. He holds Jamie’s eyes for half a second, then turns and bolts. His balance is shot and he trips and stumbles turning the corner, only barely catching himself with a hand on the wall. He’d be better on four legs but the clothes would restrict him and he doesn’t have time to strip. He hears Jamie’s feet pounding right behind him, getting closer, but Tyler had a head start and makes it to Jamie’s bed first. He collapses onto it on all fours, panting and shivering with anticipation.

He doesn’t have long to wait – half a breath and then Jamie’s plastered against his back, panting in his ear. Tyler’s been hard since the living room, but when Jamie grinds against him from behind, he starts to slick up.

It feels so right, and Tyler whines. Jamie’s hips jerk forward at the sound, his dick pressed hard against Tyler’s ass through two pairs of pants. Tyler pushes back and thinks wildly that they should just keep on like this until they can’t take it anymore.

But no – he wants that knot and he wants it now.

“Fuck me,” he says. “Please fuck me, Jamie, come on!”

Jamie grabs Tyler’s hips and fucks up against him one last hard time, then slowly pulls away. Tyler’s arms are shaking, so he turns over to sit. Jamie’s staring at him, pretty eyes blown wide with pheromones and desire.

“Fuck, Ty,” he says, and reaches up to pull off his shirt, then kicks off his pants. Standing there in his underwear, he’s so fucking pretty.

Tyler starts to sweat.

“You need help?” Jamie asks. His voice is rough, his dick so hard that his briefs are gapping at the top, dark hair peeking out. Tyler’s mouth starts to water and he clenches down against another rush of slick.

Tyler shakes his head. He gets his own shirt off, then his pants. His underwear are soaked clean through. He pulls them off as well.

“Fuck,” Jamie says, biting his lip.

Tyler lets his legs fall open. He reaches down to palm his dick.

Jamie takes a step forward and puts one huge hand on Tyler’s inner thigh. His fingers skitter down, down, and glide neatly through the mess between Tyler’s cheeks. Tyler cants his hips up, trying to get Jamie’s fingers in him. Jamie, the fucking tease, pulls his hand back instead. He looks Tyler in the eye and slides his wet fingers into his mouth. 

Tyler’s whole body jerks. He can feel the slick dripping down his thighs. He is so goddamn wet. 

Jamie takes his fingers out of his mouth and wipes them on the sheets.

“Roll onto your side,” he says. He shoves his briefs down and his hard cock springs up to slap against his belly. 

Tyler doesn’t move, not wanting to look away, so Jamie climbs up onto the bed next to him and pushes on his shoulder until he moves. He rolls over onto his side and Jamie snugs up against his back. His skin is burning hot. 

“You smell so good,” Jamie says in Tyler’s ear. 

Tyler shivers and pushes back against him. Jamie’s so close his scent is filling Tyler’s nose and mouth. He can feel Jamie’s cock hard against his back. It makes him feel so empty. He clenches down on nothing and whines.

“Jamie,” he says. “Don’t make me wait.”

Jamie doesn’t. He fucks against Tyler’s back twice, then the next thing Tyler feels is Jamie’s hot cock pressing into him and spreading him open. Jamie pushes in slow and that’s good because even though Tyler’s wetter than he’s ever been, the pressure is still intense. He knew Jamie would be big, but he didn’t know how it would feel being this filled up. He’s never taken anything this big – even his biggest vibe isn’t like this. 

“Oh god,” he says, biting down hard on his lip as Jamie pushes in inch after inch and Tyler’s slick drips out around him. “Oh god.”

At last he can feel Jamie’s hips pressing against him. Jamie’s breath is hot against his neck and it almost hurts how good it is.

“Fuck,” Jamie groans in Tyler’s ear. “Fuck, Ty, you’re so wet, baby. So wet for me.”

He rocks back and then pushes in again, brushing against Tyler in all the right spots inside. Tyler whines again, and the next time Jamie shoves in, he pushes backward against it. The feel of it, the smell of Jamie – his sweat, his heavy desire - makes Tyler’s head spin.

“You smell so good,” Jamie says, and fucks into Tyler as hard as the position will let him. “You’re so sweet, so soft, I just want to-”

He groans and sets his teeth in Tyler’s shoulder.

Tyler cries out and arches into it. 

“Bite me,” he pleads, baring his neck. “Bite me, please, Jamie, bite me!”

And Jamie does, but’s it’s with human teeth. It still feels so good Tyler wants to cry or scream or come on the spot. Then Jamie reaches around with his big hand and palms Tyler’s sore nipples. Tyler’s whole body shakes and he can’t tell if it’s pleasure or pain but he loves it and he wants more more more.

“Fuck,” he says, and manages to reach down to his cock. He jerks himself in time with Jamie’s thrusts inside him, and when Jamie bites him again, it’s all over. He cries out and comes long and hard, shaking all over and clenching down around Jamie’s thick cock. Jamie groans loud in Tyler’s ear, and fucks into him a few times more, getting bigger with each thrust. Then he’s not pulling out at all anymore, just rocking and grinding deeper as his knot swells. 

Tyler’s taken knots before but this feels different – it feels right. And Jamie’s knot is big, just like the rest of him. Tyler feels stretched to his limit around him, so full and fucked open that he can’t move, can barely breathe, can only lie there and pant while Jamie comes hard and wet inside him and his arms squeeze tight where they’re wrapped around Tyler’s shoulders.

“Fuck,” Jamie says shakily when it seems like he’s finally done coming. “Fuck, Ty, baby, you’re so good.”

It’s stupid to be so happy at the words after what they just did, but Tyler is anyway. Jamie sounds dazed and fucked out and Tyler preens to know he did that. Jamie wants him that much. Jamie wants him enough that his knot’s still inside. Jamie is Tyler’s and this proves it. Tyler is keeping him forever.

“Yeah,” he manages to say. “You too.”

He floats for a while in a pleasant haze of mating pheromones, enjoying the stretch of Jamie inside and the feel of Jamie’s mouth running against his neck. It would be so easy for Jamie to bite him right now. He could just open his mouth, let his teeth sharpen, and bite. Then Tyler would be his and he would be Tyler’s. 

It would be so easy. Jamie should do it right now.

“You should bite me,” Tyler says.

Jamie groans and jerks against Tyler’s back. Tyler knows a good sign when he sees one, so he cocks his head to give Jamie the best access to his throat.

“Ty,” Jamie says, and he puts his lips just there at the junction of neck and shoulder where the bite would go.

“We shouldn’t,” he says against Tyler’s skin. “We shouldn’t rush it, not on this.”

Tyler thinks about all the time they’ve spent apparently pining after one another and wants to laugh.

“Who’s rushing? I’ve loved you for two years. If you love me, you should bite me. It’s not… it’s not that hard, you know?”

Jamie hesitates still, and Tyler might be offended or hurt but he still feels so safe and warm and floaty from the solid knot inside him. Then Jamie says, “You’re mine,” in his alpha voice, and Tyler wouldn’t ever argue with that.

He doesn’t know what to expect, but when Jamie bites him he goes hot all over and his whole body starts to shake. Jamie’s smell is in his nose and in his mouth and it has been this whole time but now Tyler’s tasting it fresh again and the tang of blood underneath it. It hurts but he barely feels it under the rush of sudden intense pleasure and he thinks he might be coming again just from that but he can’t tell and he doesn’t care as long as Jamie never pulls back.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” Tyler says, and pushes his knuckles into his mouth, trying to ride out the pleasure-pain of it. 

It goes on and on and just when Tyler thinks he can’t take it anymore, it stops. There’s the hot smell of blood and Tyler can’t feel any of his muscles to turn his head, but he knows there must be blood smeared around Jamie’s mouth. He wants to lick it off, thinks suddenly that would be the best thing in the world.

His whole body is still shaking, flashing hot and cold by turns. He can’t really feel the bite yet, but there’s the slow itching feeling creeping up on him under everything else. Mating bites never stay open long but they scar deep, and Tyler knows he’ll feel the ache of it for days. His cheeks are wet and he doesn’t know if it’s sweat or tears. All he can think is that he’s Jamie’s now and he’s going to stay that way for the rest of his life. He’s Jamie and Jamie is his and they’re going to be so fucking good together.

“You’re mine,” Jamie says again, this time in a whisper. He brings one hand down to rub softly at Tyler’s belly. “And so is he.”

Tyler sniffs and blinks, vision suddenly clouded with tears. Fucking hormones.

“Shh,” Jamie says. He’s still hard inside Tyler and probably will be for a while. He rolls back slightly and lets Tyler lean more heavily against him. Then, almost like afterthought, he kitten licks the raw spot on Tyler’s neck.

Tyler’s whole body jerks. They’re going to fuck again, Tyler knows it. And that’s okay, because he knows what it all means now. 

The baby kicks and Jamie’s fingers dig into Tyler’s skin. He didn’t father this pup but Tyler knows he’ll be this pup’s father.

The bite mark throbs and Tyler grins even as his teeth chatter.

Tyler has Jamie’s bite. Jamie is Tyler’s mate.


	7. Chapter 7

The aftermath of the bite doesn’t seem quite real, and Tyler keeps having to pinch himself to make sure he’s not in a dream. He does eventually stop shaking, but not until he’s been fucked twice more and finally passes out in a mess of come and sweat and slick. 

The first thing he does the next morning is find a mirror and take a good look at the mark Jamie’s given him. It’s blood-stained and brutal, almost two inches across and already bruising yellow. It’s not pretty at all, but Tyler feels light-headed just looking at it. He’s going to have this mark the rest of his life. It’s the best thing he’s ever seen.

Every time he goes to the bathroom after that (which is a lot; the pup’s squishing his organs in there) he spends a few minutes afterward with his collar pulled down, admiring his mark. That’s where Jamie bit him. That’s where Jamie _claimed_ him.

When Tyler’s not looking at the mark, he’s touching it. It hurts like a sonofabitch but he’s too high on endorphins to care. Any time he forgets to give his hands specific instructions, they always drift back up to his neck to poke and prod there. The feeling keeps getting him revved up and the next thing he knows he’ll be slicking in his pants.

He’s not doing it on purpose, exactly, but he can’t deny he’s enjoying the effect it has on Jamie. Every time Jamie catches him touching his neck, he gets growly and pushy and takes Tyler back to bed.

“You guys are gross,” Jordie says after two days of putting up with their shit. He’s just walked in on them in the kitchen and he looks pretty cranky about it.

Jamie slowly pulls his hand out from the back of Tyler’s pants and wipes it on his shirt.

“Sorry,” he says, not even looking at Jordie.

“People eat here,” Jordie points out, and Tyler resolves never to tell him about Jamie eating him out at the kitchen table while Jordie was at work. They’d bleached it afterward, at least, which is probably the only reason Jordie can’t smell them there. Or possibly their mating pheromones have just taken over the entire apartment. It would explain why Jordie’s been spending so much time away these past few days.

Case in point: “I’m leaving,” Jordie says. “If you guys could get all your gross stuff done while I’m gone, it’ll be best for everyone.”

He grabs his keys and stomps out. He’s not mad about this turn of events, Tyler knows, because he keeps bringing them food when he comes back like he thinks they’re still in the useless honeymoon phase. Which they are, and they’d probably starve without Jordie – every time they go into the kitchen to cook they accidentally end up fucking.

Well, mostly accidentally. Maybe Tyler does a little seductive posing here and there to catch Jamie’s eye, but he’s a newly mated omega; he’s totally allowed to do whatever the fuck he wants to get his alpha to look at him.

Really, though, Tyler doesn’t have to work very hard to get Jamie’s attention. Tyler’s scent started to change almost immediately after the initial bite. He can’t smell himself, obviously, but Jamie seems super jazzed about it and keeps plastering himself against Tyler’s back to get a good breath of it.

“What do I smell like?” Tyler asks once. Jamie’s hard against his back and he’s got one hand cupping the side of Tyler’s tit. Tyler’s a little bit weak in the knees but he knows Jamie won’t let him fall.

“You smell,” Jamie says, breathing in deep, “like me.”

And Tyler supposes that really sums it up.

“Still sweet?” he asks, because he likes to hear Jamie say it.

“The sweetest.”

Tyler grins and starts to shove his pants down. Jamie’s definitely earned it this time.

/////

They can’t laze around the house forever, though. Eventually they have to go back to class. There are only a few weeks left until finals, and considering Tyler just got his semester back under control, he doesn’t want to start spiraling again. Plus, this is Jamie’s last semester – he doesn’t have time to fail a course because he just stopped going.

They get up extra early the day they’ve decided to make a go of it, and it’s a good thing, because Jamie accosts Tyler while he’s trying to get dressed and drags him, growling, back to bed for a good knotting. He’s a little rough with it – which Tyler likes, honestly – but still careful of the pup.

“I don’t like you leaving yet,” Jamie pants into Tyler’s mouth. 

Tyler makes a noise that’s somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, because he’s knot-stupid and feeling floaty.

“What, you just want me to lay around in your bed all day waiting for you to fuck me?”

Jamie doesn’t say anything, which is as good as confirmation. 

Well, Tyler would if he could, but being Jamie’s sex kitten isn’t going to help Tyler get his degree, so he eventually has to disentangle himself from Jamie and take another shower. 

They get a little distracted with making out against the front door, and the upshot of it all is that Tyler forgets to grab Jamie’s hoodie as he hurries out the door. It’s not that big of a deal – it’s April and mostly warm enough for just a long-sleeve shirt, but he doesn’t like not having Jamie’s scent for protection against potential predators. He worries vaguely about it for a while until he realizes gleefully halfway to campus that he doesn’t _need_ Jamie’s hoodie anymore – he’s got his own damn protection right in his scent. Well, it’s still Jamie’s protection, but it’s coming from Tyler and it’s all-fucking-natural.

Doesn’t mean he doesn’t get stares, though. He always gets stares, and not all of them are from wolves. He’s worked up sort of a reputation as the only obviously pregnant guy on campus, and humans are weird about that kind of thing for some reason. But on the other hand, none of the unmated alphas in his morning class even talk to him, which makes it a damn good day so far.

After his classes are over, Tyler goes to meet Anya and Maddy in the cafeteria. They’ve been worried, he knows, because he’s usually good about answering texts and he’s been too busy for that this past week.

They’ve already each got a lunch tray by the time Tyler slides into the empty seat at their table. 

“So you’re not dead after all,” Maddy says, raising an eyebrow at him. She only sounds a little cranky about it. “Good to know.”

“Long time no see,” Anya adds. “Thought you’d gotten kidnapped or something.”

Tyler grins and sets his bag down.

“Nah,” he says. “Just been a little busy.”

He bares his neck pointedly to give them a good view.

“Holy mother of god,” Anya breathes.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Maddy asks, surging to her feet for a better look. “Are you okay?”

They both look… upset, and it takes Tyler a moment to realize why. But of course they wouldn’t know anything about wolf sex.

“It’s a mating bite,” he explains. “I got mated.”

They both look at him blankly. He sighs.

“Jamie,” he explains. “We’re together now.”

And there – that’s the pleased-surprised reaction he was looking for.

“Oh my god, congrats,” Anya says, pulling him in for a hug.

“You stud,” Maddy says, and claps him hard on the shoulder. “Good work, man. I’m happy for you.”

Tyler preens under their praise. He _has_ done well for himself and he wants the whole world to know it. There isn’t a better mate out there than Jamie. Tyler’s made a good match.

They want all the gritty details, of course, and Tyler’s only too happy to give them. He tells them all about the jelly donuts and feeling fat and Jamie’s indignation about the whole thing (which needs an aside about Jamie’s weird food-insecurity-whatever, because the girls know him but not that _that_ well), and then he follows it up with a play-by-play of Jamie’s big dick and thick knot and all the positions Tyler’s been getting it in since that first time. 

“Well fuck, man,” Maddy says when Tyler’s finished. “I knew werewolves were kinky, but that’s some weird shit.”

Tyler doesn’t think any of the stuff he and Jamie have been doing is especially kinky, but humans have a different scale for that, so he accepts it and moves on.

“Glad you finally got laid, buddy,” Anya says. “I’m happy all the pining paid off, after all. I wasn’t sure there for a while, but it seems like it really worked out for you.”

She gets a shifty look and adds, “So, what’s going to happen to your knotting dildo, then? I guess you won’t need it, right? Asking for a friend, obviously.”

Tyler looks at her and then at Maddy, who seems a little flushed. He rolls his eyes.

“Tell you what,” he says, “you get me an awesome baby shower present and I’ll let you have the dildo.”

He doesn’t know – or want to know – what she plans to do with it, but Tyler doesn’t need it anymore. He has Jamie now.

/////

He calls his mom that night, because he wants to tell her the good news. It doesn’t quite make up for the news he had to tell her a few months ago, but he’s excited to tell people and he wants his family to know he’s not a complete fuck up.

“I have something to tell you,” he says when she picks up. And then, without waiting for her to freak out, he adds, “Jamie bit me.”

There’s a startled gasp and she says, “Oh Tyler, baby, I’m so proud of you! I’m so glad you worked it out with him! He’s a good man, a good alpha. He’s going to be a good father.”

And well, she doesn’t have to convince Tyler of that. He’ll probably always feel guilty to a certain extent about the pup not being Jamie’s, but if Jamie doesn’t mind that means it’s all going to be okay. 

She puts the phone on speaker then so Tyler can give his father the news. Then she wants to talk to Jamie, so Tyler puts his phone on speaker, too, and what follows is the disembodied version of an emotional group hug.

One of Tyler’s sisters texts him later that night asking for a selfie, so he strikes a pose by leaning his head against Jamie’s – throat exposed, obviously – and sends it over.

“Send me a copy, too,” Jamie says, and Tyler does. Then Jamie distracts him by kissing his neck and he pretty much forgets about it. That is, until the next day when he grabs Jamie’s phone to look something up (his own is across the room and he’s too lazy to go grab it) and he notices Jamie’s used the selfie as his lock screen. They look fucking good together, like lovers. They don’t look anything at all like parents, but there’s still plenty of time for that.

/////

Operation baby shower is a go, apparently, and Tyler doesn’t have any say in the planning. Jordie takes the lead on it, actually, with Anya and Maddy in reserve to offer the human insight. The three of them manage to cobble something decent together without letting Tyler in on any of their plans, so he’s almost surprised to get an invitation in the mail halfway through May.

“I don’t get it,” Jamie says, looking at the card. “Jordie lives here. Why did he mail this to his own address?”

Tyler shrugs. Humans have some weird ideas. It’s kind of charming, though, especially with the little cartoon wolf pup on the front of the card.

Jamie sighs and runs a hand through his hair. It’s not about the card and they both know it. Jamie’s in the middle of his last set of finals ever – if all goes according to plan, that is. 

“Hey,” Tyler says, and runs a hand lightly over the scar on his neck. “Want me to blow you?”

Even finals-stressed Jamie isn’t going to turn down that offer.

/////

Tyler manages to power through his own finals without horribly failing anything, but once school lets out he feels sort of at loose ends. Jamie starts his new job, so it’s just Tyler alone in the house most of the day. This time last year he was back in Ontario picking up cash as a lifeguard. That’s obviously not in the cards this year, so Tyler has to find other ways to fill his time. He takes a lot of naps, plays a lot of video games and, when he’s especially bored, he cleans the apartment.

“You should watch some Julia Child,” Jordie says when Tyler complains at dinner one night. “Learn how to cook.”

Tyler makes a face. It’s not like he’s helpless – he _can_ cook if he had to. He’s just not very good at it. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Besides, if I take over the cooking, how’s Jamie gonna pull his weight around here?”

Jamie sticks his tongue out at Tyler, but he doesn’t encourage the cooking idea. It makes them both happy when Jamie cooks and Tyler helps. It’d be silly to mess with that dynamic just because Tyler’s bored.

“Why don’t you start packing up your room?” Jamie suggests instead. “You can have my closet; I don’t even use it.”

Tyler likes that idea. It’ll have to get done eventually, and probably better to do it now than to wait until he’s _really_ pregnant. Besides, now that he’s sleeping with Jamie, it’s a serious hassle to go back to his own room for clothes every morning. 

He treats it as Project, capital P. He packs up all his clothes and books and knickknacks and carts them down the hall, where he has to clean the junk out of Jamie’s closet to make everything fit. There’s no reason to keep Tyler’s old bed, so they sell it and buy a crib instead. It’s one of those Ikea ones with more parts than seems strictly necessary, and he and Jamie put it together while Jordie paints the nursery walls a nice soft green. The room looks pretty empty with just the crib in there, but between the stuff they’ll get at the party and the diapers Jamie keeps finding on sale, it’ll fill up quick.

“We should get some decorations,” he tells Jamie one day. He’s sitting on the floor in the nursery admiring the space, thinking about how different it was a few months ago (how different _everything_ was a few months ago, really). He’s going to have to pee soon and he’ll need help getting up off the ground, which was the real reason he called Jamie in here.

“Yeah?” Jamie asks, frowning at the plain walls. “I didn’t think of that.”

That’s not terribly surprising. Jamie is a sweetheart who loves to take care of people, but he does it in practical ways. He’ll cook your favorite foods or buy a nice crib, but it would never occur to him to pick out Red Riding Hood wall art or bring you flowers. 

That’s okay, though. Tyler doesn’t really like flowers anyway.

“We should get some of those star decals, put them on the ceiling. Maybe a moon, too, if they make it. Something for him to howl at when he wants our attention.”

“No howling,” Jamie says at once.

He offers Tyler a hand, and Tyler grabs it. He heaves himself up, and it takes a minute for him to get his feet solidly under him. His balance has been so fucked up lately, and he’s been spending more and more time on four legs to compensate.

The baby doesn’t like all the movement and kicks out. Tyler grimaces and puts his hand to his belly.

“Kicking again?” Jamie asks, putting his hand over Tyler’s.

Tyler nods. “Hardest one yet.”

It happens most at night when Tyler’s trying to sleep, but the pup’s not picky: he’ll kick Tyler just about any time of day.

There’s another hard kick and their hands move together with the force of it.

“Jeeze,” Tyler says, using his other hand to poke the spot where the baby might be. “Knock it off, dude.”

He looks up at Jamie, whose mouth is hanging open. He looks sort of dazed. Tyler gets it – being in this room and feeling the pup move… it brings it home how close everything’s getting. 

“Oh my god,” Jamie says, eyes wide like he’s having an epiphany. “That’s a pup. Tyler… what the fuck are we going to do with a pup?”

And okay, it’s not like Tyler hasn’t been asking himself the same question for fucking months now. But… looking at Jamie’s shocked face, Tyler can’t help himself – he laughs.

“Search me,” he says. “But I guess we’d better figure it out. And hey, at least we’ve got Jordie. He’s like, a real adult and shit.”

Jamie gives Tyler a look. “Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel better.”

“Did I say Jordie?” Tyler says. “I meant Google. At least we have Google. The internet knows everything, Jamie. You told me that, remember?”

Jamie lets out a long breath and nods. His hand slowly goes back to caressing Tyler’s belly.

“I guess we’re a pack of four,” he says after a moment. “You, me, Jordie, and Google.”

“Five,” Tyler corrects.

Jamie looks down at his hand and then back up at Tyler. He nods decisively.

“Five.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was going to wait until tomorrow but then got too excited and couldn't :D
> 
> Thank you guys so much for all your support on this! I read all the comments over and over and they were a big help when putting the finishing touches on this.

Jamie’s parents have a decent amount of money. Not like they’re rich or anything, but they can comfortably afford plane tickets out for the baby shower. Which is good, but slightly nerve-wracking – Tyler’s been around when Jamie’s Skyped with his family before, but he’s never actually met them face to face. He has the terrible nagging feeling that they’re going to take one sniff of him and realize he’s not the proper sweet omega Jamie should have bitten. They already know the pup isn’t Jamie’s and that’s bad enough, but once they find out Tyler’s messy and easily distracted and likes dirty jokes… this meeting can’t end well.

He works himself up into a bit of a state the night before they’re supposed to arrive, tossing and turning as much as he’s still able to with his limited mobility. 

“Hey,” Jamie says, rolling over to wrap fingers around Tyler’s neck. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Tyler says. “Baby’s just kicking.”

Jamie spreads his other palm over Tyler’s belly.

“Don’t feel anything,” he says. He looks closely at Tyler’s face. “Something else the matter?”

“I don’t understand why they’re coming,” Tyler says, feeling like an asshole but needing to get this out. “This isn’t even their grandbaby.”

Jamie growls. “I don’t want to argue about this anymore, Tyler.”

His hand clenches down painfully. Tyler winces and Jamie’s grip loosens at once. 

“Sorry,” he says. “Sorry, I just… I don’t understand why you’re so hung up on this. Are you… would you love him more if he were mine?”

“No,” Tyler says at once. “Of course not. But I know how it looks. I know what your parents must be thinking of me.”

Jamie’s quiet for a minute, then says, “Ty, they don’t know. I didn’t tell them.”

“What?” Tyler asks, pushing himself up on his elbow to look at Jamie’s face. “Why not?”

Jamie shrugs. “It doesn’t matter,” he says. “He _is_ their grandbaby. He’s my son, and nothing else matters.”

Tyler stares, feeling warm the same way he does every time Jamie says something like that.

“JaBenn,” he says slowly, “I really love you.”

“I’m pretty lovable,” Jamie agrees.

He’s teasing, but damn if he isn’t right.

/////

Tyler goes with Jamie to the airport the next morning to collect his family. His parents are waiting for them at the baggage claim, and so is his sister. Tyler hadn’t realized she was coming too, but he’s glad; he knows Jamie misses her sometimes. They do hugs and Jamie’s mom coos over Tyler, telling him how healthy he looks and smells.

They drop the Benns off at their hotel for a nap before the party, and then Jamie and Tyler head back to the apartment where Jordie, Anya and Maddy are already busy setting up. 

Tyler knows it’s going to be a long day and he didn’t sleep well last night, so he catches a nap, too. He wakes up a few hours later to the doorbell ringing. He thinks about ignoring it, but he can hear his sisters talking in the hallway and knows the peace isn’t going to last long anyway. He drags himself out of bed, makes himself as presentable as possible, and then pads out to the living room for small talk and more hugging.

The actual party, once it gets started, isn’t a bad time. Both of their families are there, as well as some of their friends from school. There’s lots of snacks and some kind of punch that manages to be both pink and blue at the same time. There’s also beer for people who can drink, but Tyler obviously isn’t one of them. 

Jordie forces them all to play a few baby-themed party games (apparently that’s traditional at showers?), but they’re not too bad. The rest of the time they all just hang around and talk. Most of the talk keeps coming back to Tyler and his pup, but no one says any of the things Tyler was afraid of, like about how shameful it was for him to get pregnant before he got the bite. They all just seem pleased by the current situation – apparently Jamie and Tyler have been obvious about their mutual pining for quite a long time now and everyone’s glad to put that to rest.

Later, they eat cake and then Tyler opens presents. Jamie makes himself scarce while it’s going on, but if anyone notices they don’t comment. Tyler only notices because he’s been hyperaware of where Jamie is at any given time ever since they bonded. He doesn’t blame Jamie for having to leave the room, though; it’s always hard for alphas to take gifts from people outside their pack, even if it’s from family. If he needs to distance himself from the whole thing and pretend the gifts are only for Tyler, what’s so wrong about that?

Jamie reappears after the presents are all open and pulls Tyler onto the couch to cuddle.

“Hi,” Tyler says, nuzzling up under Jamie’s chin. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” Jamie says, and he doesn’t sound like he’s lying. “How did it go?”

“Got almost everything on the list,” Tyler says. “Anya took notes on who gave me what. Apparently I’m supposed to send a thank you note to all of them after this.”

“Sounds like fun,” Jamie says drily. “But hey, it’ll give you a project while you’re waiting to pop.”

“Oh boy,” Tyler says. He can feel the hand cramps coming on already. Maybe he’ll just dip a paw in ink and leave a print on each card. It’s the thought that counts, right?

/////

Tyler’s family stays the night, and Jamie’s family stays two days after that, and while Tyler appreciates all the support from everyone, he’d be lying if he said he isn’t relieved to see them go. He wears out so easy these days that it’s nice to have the apartment to himself again.

He spends most of the next few weeks working on a few projects: first writing the thank you cards (no paws allowed, Jordie says), then finding a place for all the new baby stuff in the nursery. Where before the nursery was too empty, it suddenly seems way too full now. He doesn’t know how they’ll fit a pup in there with all the other stuff, to be honest.

He and Jamie go to a few parenting classes offered by Tyler’s OB. Some of the stuff they learn is useful (how to diaper around a tail, for example) but most of it’s pretty common sense (don’t hit your pup, don’t muzzle them or leave them alone for more than a few minutes at a time). For more specific stuff, it seems like they’re going to have to rely on their old friend the internet.

As Tyler waits out the eighth month, he finds himself increasingly cranky about things he knows don’t matter in the long run. Jordie takes too long in the bathroom or Jamie forgets to bring home more milk, and Tyler feels himself getting unreasonably angry. And he knows he’s being unreasonable and that just makes him more angry – but at himself this time because what the fuck is wrong with him?

“It’s okay,” Jamie says, stroking the fur on Tyler’s back. “You’re just pregnant. We know you don’t mean it.”

Tyler just whuffles and pushes his head into Jamie’s arm. Head scratches now please.

He spends a lot of time as a wolf, actually. As a person, he’s too big and uncomfortable to take walks or get fucked or even just to sleep. He and Jamie still mess around but there’s no comfortable position to take a knot and it’s a serious bummer.

Then Jamie says one day, “Hey, lets go to the pool.”

There’s a wolf-owned pool a few neighborhoods over and Jordie’s present from the baby shower had been membership cards.

Tyler looks at his phone. “It’s like 8 pm. Are they even open?”

“I’ve got an in,” Jamie says, and okay, whatever that means.

They’re actually just closing up at the pool when Tyler and Jamie get there, but Jamie gives the lifeguard a nod and he lets them in anyway.

“I’m going to clean the locker room,” he tells them. “I’ll be back in like half an hour and there had better not be anyone still swimming when I go to lock up.”

Then he disappears.

“What was that about?” Tyler asks, staring after him.

“He was in some of my classes,” Jamie explains, stripping off his shirt. “I gave him thirty bucks and he’s giving us thirty minutes.”

“Steep price,” Tyler notes. “Thirty minutes for what?”

“Get in the pool and find out,” Jamie says, grinning.

Tyler takes him up on the offer. He’s got a good feeling about this. Once they’re both in the water, Jamie backs him up against the side of the pool and kisses him senseless. His mouth is hot, a stark contrast to the cooling water, and Tyler leans into it. His belly’s too big for Jamie to pull him close like he wants but his hands are on Tyler’s arms and his fingers are digging in.

“Turn around,” he says against Tyler’s mouth. “Hold on to the ledge.”

Tyler turns and clutches at the edge of the concrete above the pool. He feels Jamie’s hands at his waist and spreads his legs to so he can pull his trunks down.

“Wish I could smell you,” Jamie says. He kisses the back of Tyler’s neck. “All I can smell is chlorine. But this is the only place I could think where we could do this and it wouldn’t be uncomfortable.”

He trails both hands down Tyler’s back and squeezes his ass cheeks. Then one hand slips between them and into the slick mess around Tyler’s hole. Even with the water around them, Tyler’s still slicking up noticeably. Jamie makes a pleased sound in his throat and pushes two fingers into Tyler. 

Tyler groans and lets his head fall forward to rest against his arms. He had Jamie’s fingers two days ago but this feels different; there’s intent here. He’s going to get the knot tonight.

“Jamie,” he says desperately, “Jamie, just do it. Fuck me, Jamie, I’m ready.”

Jamie growls and fucks his fingers hard a few times into Tyler, but he’s got to be as desperate as Tyler feels because he pulls his hand away after that. Then he’s crowding against Tyler’s back and his cock is pushing in.

Tyler bites his lip against the cry that wants to spill out and pushes back against Jamie, taking him deeper and deeper. He always forgets how big Jamie is until he gets him inside again. 

“You feel so good,” Jamie says and groans. He pulls away and then fucks back in. “You feel so fucking good, baby.”

Tyler’s neck is wet from the pool water but Jamie must be too turned on to care because he puts his teeth on Tyler’s bite mark. Tyler can’t keep the cry contained this time and Jamie growls approvingly. He fucks Tyler hard, water splashing up around them and slowing them down, but it feels so damn good anyway. Then Jamie’s thrusts slow down and become more deliberate as the resistance ramps up and soon he’s just grinding against Tyler, hitting constantly against all the good spots inside. Tyler comes without even realizing he’s close, clenching down on Jamie’s knot and biting his hand to keep the noise quiet. Jamie bites him again as he comes and all Tyler can do is shake and shudder through it.

Tyler keeps his forehead against his arm for a few minutes afterward, panting hard. He feels fuller than he has in so long and – thanks to the water – lighter, too. His nipples, he notifies suddenly, are slowly leaking milk-stuff down his chest. It’s been happening more and more but he hadn’t noticed because of the pool water.

Jamie breaks the silence eventually.

“So… pool sex: yea or nay?”

“Definitely yea,” Tyler says, wishing he could kiss Jamie right now.

“Yay,” Jamie says quietly, and kisses Tyler’s ear.

/////

Tyler doesn’t realize he’s in labor until he realizes, _holy shit – he’s in labor!_ he wakes up feeling crampy and grumpy, but that’s pretty par for the course these days. He gets some contractions in the shower – also pretty normal. He goes from the shower to the couch in the living room where he wolfs out for a few hours. Pain’s still pain even in wolf form, but he at least he can distract himself more easily with the smells around him or the noises down the hall.

It’s not until a few hours later he realizes the contractions never really stopped coming, and maybe that means something significant. He shifts back into human form, and yep, there’s the shooting panic he should have been feeling all morning. He finds his phone and sends a quick text to Jamie.

_Possibly in labor. Early stages. No need to panic._

He immediately gets back: _I’m coming home_.

So that’s something, at least. Another contraction hits and Tyler decides he’d be an idiot to wait this out in human form if he doesn’t have to.

Jamie gets home a while later (wolves aren’t great at time, either), and hustles Tyler into the car. Tyler doesn’t bother to shift back, just sprawls in the backseat with his fur still on.

“I called the OB,” Jamie tells him. “She said there’s an open room at the clinic with backyard access. For, you know, if you want to run around. Jordie’s going to come after work and bring us whatever we need – clothes and food and stuff.”

Tyler doesn’t care about food and clothes right now, but the yard is nice. He runs around in it and it helps keep him distracted from the way the contractions are getting longer and more painful. He does occasionally have to put up with one of the nurses coming over to poke and prod at him, but mostly he’s left in his own to explore the yard, which smells like grass and other wolves and antiseptic. 

Jamie keeps him company, for a while as a wolf and later in human form. He combs through Tyler’s fur with his fingers and says things like, “Your coat’s so thick now. Could probably braid it,” at which point Tyler nips at him and Jamie scratches behind his ears instead. 

Jordie comes out for a while and gives Tyler some encouraging pats on the head, but he doesn’t stay long. It’s not his place. He’s pack, but he’s needed at home, getting things ready there. That’s how these things work.

Eventually the pains become too bad and too close even for Tyler’s wolf to ignore, and he has to go inside to lay on the low couch.

“You okay, Ty?” Jamie asks, coming to sit beside him.

Tyler whines and noses Jamie’s hand until Jamie pets him. It helps, but it’s not quite enough. Fuck, why hadn’t anyone told him having a baby would fucking hurt like this? It’s like a stomach cramp that goes on and on and on and no matter what position he’s in it just keeps on going. Jesus fuck.

The next few hours are a bit of a blur, with nurses coming in and out of the room and saying things that Tyler can’t pay attention to, and the only constant thing is the pain. Well, that and Jamie, who never leaves Tyler’s side, always has one hand in his fur and his mouth close to Tyler’s ear saying quiet things about Tyler being good and strong and sweet, about Tyler bringing their pup into the world. Tyler latches onto Jamie’s scent and his voice and the feel of his hand, and it’s the only thing he can hold onto when everything else hurts like this.

And then there’s ten minutes of intense pain – so bad Tyler almost gives up except that Jamie is still there keeping him strong – and then a commotion and a whine and Jamie’s suddenly holding a dark, wet little ball of fur in his arms.

 _Oh my god_ , Tyler thinks, and shifts in shock.

Jamie stares at him, eyes wet. He puts his face against the baby’s head and breathes him in.

“He’s… he’s real,” he whispers. “He’s ours.”

“Let me hold him,” Tyler croaks out. His voice sounds like he’s been drinking and shouting all night. His body feels about the same. It can’t be normal, he thinks, that his entire groin area is numb. Has to be shock or something.

“Jamie,” he says, voice high. He wants his baby and he wants him now. “Let me hold him.”

“Jesus fuck,” Jamie whispers, nuzzling the baby’s head again. His shoulders start to shake, just a little.

“What?” Tyler asks. “Let me- let me hold him, Jamie. Please.” He’s going to cry unless he gets to hold his baby right now.

Jamie finally, finally hands him over and there are actual tears in his eyes.

“Smell him,” Jamie says.

Tyler does, and his eyes immediately snap up to meet Jamie’s. “He smells like…”

Like Jamie, but Tyler can’t bring himself to say the words. He pushes his face against the baby’s head again and then pulls away to really look at him. He’s so tiny, with dark fur and a pointy little nose. His eyes blink open. Brown eyes. And he smells like Jamie.

“How?” Tyler asks desperately. He doesn’t understand. “Was it the bite?”

Jamie shakes his head and wipes his nose on the back of his hand. “Doesn’t work like that.”

“But that means,” Tyler breathes. “That means it was you. That night after midterms. It was… you?”

He can’t believe it. He cannot fucking believe it. There’s no way Tyler could get that lucky. Things like this don’t really happen to people, at least not to people like Tyler.

“But how?”

Jamie bites his lip and his eyes fix on a spot just over Tyler’s head. A reaction like that can only mean one thing. 

What the serious fuck?

“Wait,” Tyler says and juggles the pup into one arm to grab Jamie’s wrist with the other. “Did you know?!”

The nurse still in the room is looking at them with wide eyes but Tyler does not even fucking care right now. He cannot believe this.

Jamie shakes his head. “Not… not really. I thought maybe. I don’t remember much from that night either but… bits and pieces. But I thought I’d dreamt it. I didn’t think you’d ever go for me so it couldn’t have been real.”

“Why didn’t you say something after we got together?” Tyler demands. If he’d known there was even a chance maybe he wouldn’t have fucking stressed about this for so long.

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up,” Jamie says slowly. “In case it really was just a dream.”

Tyler growls just a little bit. “I’m not a kid,” he says. “You don’t have to protect me from the truth, Jamie.”

The pup starts to fuss, and Tyler’s eyes are drawn back to him, which is why he gets to see when he shifts into a tiny little human-shaped baby. Hair lighter than his fur but eyes the same brown. Chubby cheeks, pink skin. 

Tyler’s heart melts all over again. He’s never wanted someone so much in his life. Not counting Jamie, obviously, but that’s different. 

The pup’s still fussing, so Tyler rocks him experimentally.

“He might be hungry,” the nurse cuts in. “You might try to feed him before the contractions start up again.”

And that’s right, this dumb birth process doesn’t end when the baby comes out. There’s still all the other stuff in there.

Tyler cuts her an embarrassed look, mindful of the fact that she’s witness to the conversation he’s been having with Jamie. Jamie’s gone a little red with the same realization.  
Tyler gives her suggestion a shot. He’s not really in a good position to rest the kid against his chest, but Jamie helps him move around and get situated so he’s reclined slightly. Perfect position for feeding tiny baby wolves who can’t hold their head up yet on their own. 

“Okay,” he says to Jamie when the he thinks the baby’s latched alright. “Now tell me about how you lied?”

“I didn’t lie,” Jamie says, loud and indignant.

He cuts another embarrassed glance at the nurse and sighs. 

“Fine,” he says in a quieter voice. “I really thought it was a dream, Tyler, I swear. And on the off-chance it wasn’t, I didn’t want to get _my_ hopes up, okay? It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s stupid to want and it wouldn’t have mattered. You know that right? You know we would have loved him either way, right? _I_ would have loved him anyway.”

Tyler rolls his eyes and grabs Jamie’s hand again with his free one.

“JaBenn,” he says, inexplicably fond. He laces their fingers tighter. “I wasn’t ever worried about that. But I’m really fucking glad it worked out like this.”

And he _is_. He can’t think of anything he would change right in this moment. He’s got a pup in his arms, a mate holding his hand, and a packmate at home putting the finishing touches on the nursery. He hurts all over, but he feels so, so good. He starts to choke up a little and knows it’s his dumb pregnancy hormones. He just feels really fucking lucky right now.

“I always wanted pups that looked like you, smelled like you,” he confesses. “And now he does.”

Jamie’s eyes look wet again. Tyler squeezes his hand, then leans up to kiss him.

“Hey Segs,” Jamie says. “I really love you. I just want you to know that. This is a really perfect thing you did, and I’m really fucking happy.”

“I know,” Tyler says.

And he does. Everything is going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jordie's reaction when they bring the pup home is to roll his eyes and say, "Listen Chubbs, I told you guys Tyler smelled like you way back when he first found out he was pregnant and you both swore up and down it wasn't yours. How are you both so dumb? You better hope this kid gets my brains instead of yours."


End file.
